8 Chapter 8 - Freshmen Assembly

As Mi Young walked towards the campus, she noticed that there's a huge crowd just outside the building where the classrooms are located. Mi Young shrugs her shoulders as she tries to get past the sea of students who are all standing outside as if waiting for something.

"Uhm? Excuse me, let me through please." Mi Young says as she stands at the back of a tall man.

The guy turns around as he looks at her with displeasure. "Find your own place."

Mi Young scoffs at the guy's arrogant tone. "I'm late for my class. Let me through please."

The guy scans Mi Young all over before realization dawned upon him. "You don't have any badge, that means you are a first year student as well."

Mi Young looked around her and realized that all of the students around her, including the guy who is blocking her way, had different colored badges pinned on their shirts. "Uhm? Where can I get that?"

The guys that were standing beside the tall guy laughed at Mi Young. "You can only get a badge like this if you are a ranker."

"What's a rank?" Mi Young genuinely asked.

"Are you for real? How did you manage to pass the entrance exam with that coo coo brain?" Another guy, who was standing on the tall guy's left, said. He pointed at the badge on his shirt and said, "Colored badges like us means that we are one of the top 100 students in our faction. Only those who have colored badges are considered as rankers. Since we belong to the Pyro faction, we have red colored badges. Blue for the Hydro faction, Purple for the Anemo, and Green for the Geo."

The guy on the right also added, "1 stripe on your badge means you are a freshman, 2 stripes for sophomore, 3 stripes for juniors, and 4 stars for senior students. The colored star on your badge also represents your ranking among other rankers. If you are between the top 100 to top 50 then you will have a bronze star. If you are between the top 49 to 20 then you will have a silver star on your badge. Students with a gold star belong to the top 19 to 11, and those who belong to the top 10, which are very formidable and amazing students, then you will have a yellow star on your badge."

"Really? That sounds awesome. How can I get that?" The three males laughed at Mi Young's question. "What's funny?"

"You will only be able to get your badge every start of the school year after each exam." The guy on the left says. He then points at the tall guy who Mi Young bumped earlier when she was trying to get past them. "Our leader here is a silver star ranker – which means he's a really powerful Pyro Mage. So you better watch out or he will incinerate you here and now."

"First years without badges like you are weak and should stay out of the ranker's way. Plus, how did you even get here with that weak looking body of yours? I bet you're the last person who managed to pass the exams. Lucky you." The third guy added as they all started laughing at Mi Young again.

"You should try and cultivate more so you could be more like that freshman who managed to get a perfect score during the entrance exam!"

Their leader also nodded his head as he added, "Yeah and she did manage to be claimed by all of the elements. Plus her mana power exceeded that of a freshman Mage! I can't wait to meet her and proclaim my love for her."

"You will surely get her approval, leader-nim. Given that you have the looks as well as a 2-striped silver star! You are a formidable Mage, what more can she ask of you?"

The three guys started laughing with each other before the second guy, who was wearing eyeglasses, seemed to remember Mi Young's presence and threw her a pitiful look, "You, freshman who needs more practice, why don't you praise our leader as well? He's going to get into the top 10 soon and date that freshman who scored perfect during the exam. Maybe then we will be able to be your friends and get on our good side."

"Dating a freshman seems odd considering your young age." Was all Mi Young could say with how ridiculous these three men are doing in front of the same person they are highly talking about.

"Nonsense! That first year girl will surely fall for our leader!"

"Right! Our leader is a whole package."

While the two men keep on giving their arrogant leader with different sugar-coated praises, Mi Young tries to look past the heads in front of her. She manages to see a glimpse of a stage and what seems like a couple of teachers sitting at the side of the stage. She was about to ask the three guys again if she could pass through them when the sound of a microphone stopped everyone from talking.

"Attention all students! Today we are going to have our assembly in order to welcome the new 100 freshmen students in our academy. I am your assembly host, Ms. Yoo Sun Hae, and I am honored to welcome all of you here in our humble school." The MC announces. The man in front of Mi Young was still blocking her view so she couldn't see anything. "And to start our assembly, may I call our beloved and newly elected principal, Ms. Oh Min Ree to give her opening speech."

There was a roaring of hands clapping together as the MC announced the name of their new principal. Seconds later, Mi Young can hear the familiar voice of the Examiner who hosted their entrance exam yesterday. "Greetings my beloved students! Everything still feels like a dream to me. Just like you, I still can't believe that I am standing here on this podium as your new school principal. I want to make this speech as short as possible so I wouldn't take much of your time today, given that it is your first day here in Mistwood Academy. However, the only advice that I can give you is to be determined and to not lose hope. There is always a way for everything, you just have to learn how to find them."

The students once again raised their hands in order to give their new principal a huge clap before she continued, "So now, may we hear the formidable freshman student who managed to get a perfect score during the entrance exam and is the current top 1 among all freshman students to give her speech to us?"

Everyone went silent upon hearing the principal's words. All heads started to turn everywhere just to find where the amazing student was located, but sadly they couldn't find her.

"Miss Kang Mi Young, are you here?" The principal calls out.

Everyone started murmuring towards each other, trying to find the person who is supposed to make a speech today.

Even the three guys standing in front of Mi Young and blocking her view seemed to turn their heads in every possible way so they could get a glimpse of the amazing freshman.

"I hope Miss Mi Young is here?" Principal Oh calls out once more. She sounded hopeful and Mi Young doesn't want to embarrass the new principal so she does what she had to do.

Heaving a sigh of defeat, Mi Young raises her hands as she announces, "I'm here!"

Instantly all heads turned towards the source of the shy voice.

Upon realizing who it was, the three guys in front of Mi Young had their mouths hanging open and their eyes wanting to budge out from its sockets. The three of them are thinking of the same thing over and over again as their faces turn deep shades of red.

'Really kid? It was you?'

'Why did you not say anything? We would not have embarrassed ourselves in front of you?'

'I'm doomed.'