Weak Class of Anti-Hero

The weeks that followed were strangely calm. My new reputation bought me peace. No one dared to cause me trouble anymore. My forced partnership with Yoo-Na continued, but she avoided me as much as possible outside of mandatory classes. She had returned from the infirmary, healed, but the fear in her eyes when she saw me was my greatest satisfaction.

Then, the exam period arrived.

I had excelled in combat, but the written exams were another story.

"Aura Manipulation Theory. History of Dimensional Breaches. Ethics of Supernatural Abilities." Min-Soo read the list of subjects, looking worried. We were in the library, surrounded by piles of books and terminals.

"Ji-Hoon, your grades in these subjects are... disastrous," he said. "Your combat ranking is impressive, but if you fail your theory exams, your overall ranking will plummet. You could even be demoted."

He was right. I had never paid attention to theory. For me, magic was about practice, about survival. Not complicated equations on Aura fluctuation.

I looked at the pages of the textbook. The words danced before my eyes. It was a language I didn’t understand.

"I’m terrible at this," I admitted, which was rare for me.

Min-Soo sighed. "I know. That’s why I’m here."

For the next two weeks, he became my personal tutor. We spent entire nights in the library. He explained the concepts to me with infinite patience, creating diagrams, mnemonic devices, using his own power to help me "swallow" the information.

It was exhausting. More exhausting than any fight.

But slowly, very slowly, I began to understand. I began to see the logic behind the magic, the science behind the power.