6 Chapter 6

The next day, our mysterious class rep woke up in an unfamiliar room.

He sat up straight while tilting his head from left to right, analyzing where he is. And when he finally realized the situation, he let out a soft chuckle as he scratched his nose.

"I thought I was kidnapped." He mumbled to himself. Turns out, he had just forgotten what happened the other day.

That old man, back in the first day, offered him a free accommodation in the University dormitory. As soon as he agreed to take the supplementary class, that man's face warped into a really creepy expression and made that offer. That old man also promised that he would donate to their church from time to time, so he had no reasons to refuse.

Any donation would greatly help the other kids' sustenance. Nothing's more important than that, so he agreed without any further ado.

He yawned and stretched before getting out of the bed.

He then made all his preparations and finally wore the University's school uniform, glancing at himself in the mirror before laughing at his very fresh and organized look. He look completely different from 8 years ago.

Completely different...

He turned around once more to take a closer look at his dorm room. It was clean and is filled with necessary furniture, the bed is wide and there is air-conditioner inside, which is already much for a free accommodation. 'What would they ask in return?' he thought, the corners of his lips slightly lifted.

But before anything else, he should get going. Time is running and he didn't want to be late on his very first day, since the visit yesterday was just a pre-tour of the University. Today, the real University life begins.

Soon as he stepped outside, students scattered in the hallway welcomed him. He noticed that they were all following a single direction, so he followed behind.

It's just basic knowledge.

If you see students heading in the same direction at once, wouldn't that mean that there's a gathering up ahead? So, it's also only natural to follow behind if you don't have any idea of the place.

And true to his words, there really was a program being held on the University gymnasium up ahead.

What he noticed first is the number of the students. For a university this huge, the students are small on numbers, you could say. Well, it's probably because their standards are high. He was just lucky to be accepted the other day.

"Everyone, please settle down on your assigned seats. Section 5 – E, D, C, B and A, please proceed on to the upper left column. Section 4 – E, D, C, B and A, please proceed…" the voice on the speaker floated over the entire place. It just kept on repeating and repeating its words. Our student, Chess, then waited for his section to be called.

"… Section 1 – E, D, C and B, please proceed to the middle column."

'Hmm? Only E – B was called? Where is the Section 1 – A?' Chess wondered.

Chess already settled down, but he couldn't stop on thinking about the other class. Does the Section 1, perhaps, don't have class A?

But after a second of pause, he again heard the voice over the speaker. He also noticed that the noisy crowd around him magically quietened down.

He's not the only one who is confused though. Almost all the freshmen present had similar curiosity in their eyes.

'What happened?'

The senior, who was just talking to them the other second, suddenly stopped on his tracks. All their eyes are directed at the entrance, so, the freshemen also fixed their gazes towards that direction.

Chess did the same.

Together with the voice over the speaker, he saw someone entering. Behind that person were ten more other people. They all had different expressions, but their aura screams the same level of authority.

Who are these people? They are no ordinary at all…

In our class rep's eyes, the scene was familiar. The aura they give is almost the same as those people he met yesterday, the students of the Section 0.

The only difference is, these people here looked more collected and dutiful than those of the Pawns. The students he met yesterday had the aura of wild and free troublesome youths, while the students he is seeing today had the aura of disciplined nobles.

That's a huge gap.

"Everyone, especially the freshmen! We present to you, the Kings and Queens of our University! The Section 1 – A!"

Suddenly, the students broke into an ear-ringing cheer. They started chanting something, probably the names of those people. Just like how the speaker introduced them, the students cheered joyfully as if they really are welcoming their true kings and queens.

The people being cheered for had no changes in their expressions. They just walked leisurely, stopping in front of the Section 1 – B's column, settling themselves right in front of our class rep.

Chess followed their steps up until they finally sat down. While he was watching them, some other things were running inside his head. The reaction of the students around seemed like just a normal occurrence.

Who are these people actually?

While he was thinking of those things, he didn't realize a pair of gaze landing on him. One of those people in front noticed him and surprisingly laid his eyes on him. He watched Chess with an intense gaze before finally facing front.

The program started right after.

It lasted for more than an hour, tackling about the school's rules and regulations. Nothing seemed out of place. No one also mentioned anything about the Pawns or anything about Section 0. It seemed like that class is really hidden from the other students.

After the program ended, everyone was ordered to proceed to their own classes, but because Chess is new, he didn't know where to go.

He glanced at the students sitting in the same column as him, thinking of who he should approach. He knows they are all in Section 1 but he didn't know who belongs in the same class as him, so, he just decided to talk to the one nearest to him.

"Uhm… excuse me." He called out to a girl.

The girl tilted her head and glanced at him. At the sight of Chess's face, the girl lost her will to speak. She stared at his face before pulling a mirror out. She took a look at her face, then back on to Chess, then back into the mirror again. She then pouted her lips as she placed the mirror back in her skirt pocket, releasing a sigh.

How can a man be even prettier than her? She felt ugly, but she still turned to face Chess.

"Yes? What is it?" she then gave him her bright smile.

Chess heaved a sigh of relief. For a minute, he thought the girl would scold him for beings so shameless. Seems like he was wrong.

Chess then also flashed his innocent bright smile in return which almost blinded our little girl. Her lips slightly parted at the sight of the smiling man in front of her. She was sure that he looked pretty, but looking at it now, he can be handsome too…

"Hi, I'm a freshman. Do you happen to know where the Section 1, Class B is?" he asked.

The girl's eyes twinkled upon hearing those words. She then hooked her arm around Chess' and pulled herself closer.

"What a coincidence!" she blurted out. Chess knotted his forehead, clearly startled by her action. The girl just widened her smile and pulled him along with her. "My name's Angela, and I'm your senior in Class B. Nice to meet you!"

Chess glanced at her with his innocent gaze, smiling at her words.

"Nice meeting you too, senior."

Angela just laughed it off and continued walking towards their class. After some stair climbing and quick turns, they finally reached a room. Angela opened the sliding door and he was welcomed with more or less 20 people inside. He first noticed the boys of the class.

All of them had their noses buried in their own books, completely immersed in their own worlds. The girls, on the other hand, was happily chatting away with one other. Some of them also buried their noses in books, but they still had their lips moving along with their eyes.

The first impression he had was, this class is for geeks.

Well, it was no surprise because his academic result is 98% and his physical result was just 78%. From what he heard earlier in the orientation, their classes and sections are determined through their results. He was placed in Section 1 because he excels in academic, but he was also placed only in the class B because he lacked physical capabilities.

The class next to his, the class C, were full of people who lacks academic knowledge but had exceptional physical abilities. The rest two classes are those who excels in other activities, like music and arts.

In conclusion, Section 1 are composed of people who excels in respective aspects. The Section 2 up to 5 is composed of people who is inferior than them in those aspects. Classes E and D are allotted for those students who excels in other activities. Class C is allotted for those who excels in sports or had exceptional physical capabilities, while their class, Class B, is allotted for those who only excels academically.

Upon realizing that… he thought of those people he had seen earlier. Those people who were recognized as the university's kings and queens-- the Section A.

Does that mean they excel in all aspects? Is that the reason why students treat them the way they did earlier? Doesn't that make them the University's treasure? If they were the treasure then…

What are those people in the Section 0? What are their roles in this university?

That... he had yet to find out.