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33. Good cop, Bad cop 1
33. Good cop, Bad cop 1
“If you don’t know, just stick it on the back door of the classroom. The kids will figure it out and explain it to you.”
After slipping the flyer between her books, he turned around as if his business was done.
As she stared at his suspiciously retreating head, the guy who had been walking away suddenly pivoted and came back.
“Why?”
She asked, prompting Woo Joo-han to pull out the flyer he’d just tucked into her book and wave it in front of her face.
Did he think shaking it would make the words more visible? It wasn’t a Magic Eye puzzle. The students here were all so impatient.
Yoon Tae-ha furrowed her brow as if the movement hurt her eyes. He finally stopped waving the paper and spoke slowly and deliberately.
“In this evaluation match, G-class and T-class are paired together.”
“Paired?”
“How can you not even know that, coming from the East Shelter?”
“I came to the shelter to learn.”
“You sure talk well.”
“But why have you been nagging me about it since earlier? You could’ve just calmly explained it.”
Woo Joo-han, who had been spouting words in irritation, hesitated for a moment. The transfer student had made a perfectly valid point.
Regaining his composure quickly, he explained again—this time in an exaggeratedly slow tone, as if speaking to a kindergartener.
“During the evaluation match, students from your class and ours will team up as partners—espers and guides. It’s always a two-person evaluation match, right?”
Yoon Tae-ha nodded to show she understood. But she still didn’t understand why he suddenly brought up the two-person evaluation match. Was the amplifier going to spread among the students starting with the evaluation match?
While pondering various possibilities, Woo Joo-han asked without hesitation:
“Do you want to partner with me?”
The unexpected question broke the train of thought connecting this mission to the evaluation match.
Woo Joo-han waited for her response, looking even more irritated than before.
Suddenly asking to be partners? Why? Could he possibly know something and was testing her? That seemed unlikely…
No one except Cheon Geon-young and Seo Do-jin knew that Yoon Tae-ha was undercover here. Not even the principal was aware.
Woo Joo-han had manifested as a guide at a young age and entered the shelter. A twenty-year-old who had spent half his life here wouldn’t likely suspect or probe for a hidden S-class esper infiltrating on duty.
So, did this mean there was some other scheme at play?
Yoon Tae-ha remained cautious.
“No.”
Her immediate rejection made Woo Joo-han grimace as if he’d bitten into a sour persimmon.
As break time was ending, students returning to the classroom alternated glances between Woo Joo-han and Yoon Tae-ha.
Some lingered by the doorway, blatantly gawking like barnacles clinging to a seawall.
Ignoring their prying eyes, Woo Joo-han snapped irritably:
“Do you just say things without thinking?”
“No. The two-person evaluation match is important, right? I can’t just promise to team up with someone I met today.”
“Haven’t you downloaded our school app?”
“I have.”
“Then haven’t you seen the free bulletin board or anything?”
“I only checked the ‘For Sale’ board a few times to look for books.”
“The ‘For Sale’ board?”
Woo Joo-han let out a hollow laugh. Two female espers leaning against the doorway started playfully smacking each other’s arms upon seeing his reaction.
Judging by the mix of profanity and exclamations of “So cute!” it seemed like they approved.
Indeed, he was a well-known figure in the school.
His popularity among his peers was understandable—he had a mischievous charm in the corners of his mouth, fair skin that complemented his light brown hair, and delicate, well-proportioned features.
“I’m the top-ranked student in the guide class.”
He didn’t seem accustomed to being rejected.
“Congratulations.”
“Not congratulations—I mean, do you really not want to partner with me?”
Yoon Tae-ha nodded. An esper from G-class, pretending to put books into a nearby locker, eavesdropped on their conversation but quickly retreated after catching Woo Joo-han’s intense glare.
As the bell signaling the end of break rang, Woo Joo-han stopped a G-class student heading back to the classroom.
When he handed over the flyer and instructed him to post it on the back door, the esper visibly brightened and eagerly agreed, as if he’d comply even if told to stick it on the scariest teacher’s back.
As the two continued talking, Woo Joo-han made one last proposal to Yoon Tae-ha, who was about to return to the classroom.
“There’s still some time before the evaluation match, right?”
“Think about it again by then.”
His expression suggested he might say something if she didn’t change her mind. But she simply walked into the classroom without even nodding politely.
---
Woo Joo-han, left standing by himself, took a mental note of the transfer student’s locker location before walking away without hesitation.
The esper class and guide class were in separate buildings. It was quite a distance, and the bell signaling the start of class had already rung, but he didn’t rush.
Instead, he ruffled the back of his hair in frustration, as if something was bothering him.
“Did I look too obvious?”
His light brown hair stuck up messily, like a puppy’s fur after being dried with a towel.
As he passed through the sole connecting pathway between the buildings, he ran into a group of espers rushing toward him, their bangs fluttering dramatically.
The girls, who had been running late to class after visiting the school store, slowed down upon seeing Woo Joo-han. They immediately smoothed their bangs with their hands.
Lost in thought about the transfer student who had just ignored him, Woo Joo-han barely registered the first girl who hastily greeted him:
“Joo... Joo-han, hi!”
He shot them a look that said, Who do you think you are, greeting me? and brushed past without acknowledgment. He wasn’t the type to pretend familiarity out of pity.
Still, the girls giggled as they dashed toward their classroom.
“He’s so rude!”
“But he’s cute!”
“My dream is to meet a guide like Woo Joo-han someday…”
“Do you think that’s easy? Even reincarnation wouldn’t help.”
Though Woo Joo-han heard every word, he didn’t turn around. Instead, he rolled the name of the transfer student around in his mind—Jeon Sung-ha. Interest bubbled up inside him.
---
The transfer student sat down at her desk, looking completely unfazed.
A few G-class students who had secretly overheard her conversation with Woo Joo-han in the hallway began whispering about what had just happened. Their voices carried loudly enough to reach Kang Jin-ho, who was playing a game on Kim Su-chan’s tablet in the very last row.
Kang Jin-ho, engrossed in his game with earphones plugged in despite the teacher entering the classroom, casually pulled one earphone out. Meanwhile, Kim Su-chan openly eavesdropped from the seat in front of him.
“Woo Joo-han has good evaluation match scores, right?”
“Top-tier. First place in shooting and third in rift breakthrough rankings.”
“Third in rift breakthrough? Was that last year?”
One girl, who had been gazing at Woo Joo-han with fervent admiration, scolded her clueless friend.
“How could you not know that?”
“Isn’t rift breakthrough a combined esper-guide class? He’s insane.”
“How could you not know that?”
“You’re not his mom—why are you showing off like this?”
“How could you not know that?”
Exasperated by her friend’s blind fandom, the student slumped back onto her desk. Kim Su-chan kept glancing back at Kang Jin-ho while listening intently to the chatter.
Distracted for a moment, Kang Jin-ho’s character was suddenly in mortal danger. Irritated, he began mashing the skill buttons frantically.
“So, could the transfer student and Woo Joo-han team up?”
“She said no, though—Jeon Sung-ha did.”
“She doesn’t know better yet. Once she realizes how much evaluation matches affect rankings… Honestly, Woo Joo-han’s like a cheat code.”
“I’m so jealous of his bus...”
They spoke as if the transfer student would inevitably team up with Woo Joo-han and dominate the evaluation matches.
“Who were last year’s first and second place winners in rift breakthrough?”
“First place was that crazy guy from A-class, and second place was...”
The girl chewing on her pen glanced at Kang Jin-ho and silently answered with a nod. Her friend, catching the signal, quickly dropped the topic and pretended to focus on their pristine textbook.
“There’s only so much a guide can carry. The transfer student can’t even control her telekinesis properly. Not all B-class espers are equal.”
“...Right?”
They abruptly shifted their conversation, clearly aware of someone sitting behind them. The discussion seamlessly transitioned to dinner options.
Kang Jin-ho appeared to bury his head in his game, seemingly absorbed. But his frantic button-mashing served no purpose, and his character fell victim to an unexpected new opponent’s attack.
〈YOU LOSE〉
His defeated character returned to the waiting screen. Before the screen changed, the opponent’s new character mocked him by spamming the same attack at the spot where his character had died.
A low curse escaped Kang Jin-ho’s lips.
At the mere mention of “evaluation matches,” his head began throbbing painfully.
This time, he absolutely had to secure first place.
It was part of the contract conditions.
The numerous conveniences he received weren’t due to someone’s generous favoritism. In exchange, Kang Jin-ho was obligated to secure first place in the annual evaluation matches.
The Western Shelter’s evaluation matches were divided into two major groups: Group 〈Ga〉 and Group 〈Na〉.
Group 〈Ga〉 was a tournament-style competition where espers competed individually. Espers of the same rank faced off in one-on-one duels to determine who was stronger—a simple and straightforward competition.
There was little room for variables here.
The variables came into play in Group 〈Na〉.
Group 〈Na〉 required teamwork—specifically, between an esper and their guide. Here, espers and guides paired up to enter near-perfectly simulated dungeons.
The inclusion of a guide introduced a massive variable.
Victory in the evaluation matches was determined by combining the scores from both Group 〈Ga〉 and Group 〈Na〉, with the highest total score taking the win.
Last year, Kang Jin-ho had barely managed to secure first place. It was supposed to be a worry-free victory—it was a game heavily tilted in his favor.
But then Woo Joo-han had grabbed his esper partner by the scruff of the neck and dragged them to safety, nearly ruining everything.
That kind of incident couldn’t happen again.
It was impossible for him to choose a guide superior to Woo Joo-han. For this year’s evaluation match, his partner had to be chosen from T-class, and the top-ranked guide in T-class was Woo Joo-han. To make matters worse, his relationship with Woo Joo-han was terrible.
Kang Jin-ho glanced anxiously at Kim Su-chan’s sleeping head. His gaze then shifted diagonally across the room to the transfer student visible beyond Kim Su-chan’s broad back.
Jeon Sung-ha.
The sudden appearance of a failing student.
Just because they shared the same rank, he didn’t immediately feel threatened. After all, there were other B-class telekinetics besides himself. But if she could use the kind of ability she’d demonstrated during the “Movement and Transformation” class, that changed things.
To lift two people into the air without injuring a single finger?
Kang Jin-ho hadn’t lived his life following the rules perfectly. Every A-class telekinetic supposedly had the ability to lift living beings—he’d tried countless times. He’d never succeeded, though.
Lab mice, stray cats from the back mountain, even his dorm roommate—all had been subjects of his experiments.
He’d tried repeatedly, but each attempt only resulted in injuries, never success.
And she had done it so effortlessly?
Though he’d angrily given her a massive number of demerit points, he clearly remembered the look in the teacher’s eyes when they reevaluated the transfer student afterward.
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