Why Did I Have to Enroll - Chapter 5

 Lesson 2. This Is Your Roommate - 1

Professor Yu-mina was as kind as she was beautiful, and she patiently explained the basic concepts of the academy to Ban Yu-won, who knew nothing about it.

To cut to the chase, it wasn't the professors who had drawn Ban Yu-won here, but the Union Academy's student selection system.

The Union Academy's student selection system targeted all dimensions, automatically providing suitable evaluations for students who met the necessary conditions.

As a result, the professors had only learned the name of the planet 'Earth' today, and they were quite surprised that Ban Yu-won had come from a lower dimension where the existence of Union Academy wasn't even known.

Ban Yu-won, whose desire for revenge had completely vanished after seeing the Tower of Babel, decided not to dwell on it anymore. However, unaware of this, Professor Yu-mina tried to cheer him up by talking about various other things.

'Is that the artifact that student Ban Yu-won created? It's amazing, even though the power contained within is at a miserable level... But still, an attack-type artifact showing perfectly autonomous movement. Oh my, I can even sense a faint consciousness? Hehe, I'm really looking forward to student Ban Yu-won's future development.'

'You want to visit your hometown before the entrance ceremony? Hmm, you said you didn't know about the existence of Union Academy... Alright. I'll give you special permission.'

'Ah, I've just been informed that other lower dimension special admission candidates have passed the evaluation. There are four in total, including you, Ban Yu-won. You'll be sharing a room with one of them.'

'Then, student Ban Yu-won, when you're done settling in your room, tear this paper. You'll be able to return to your hometown. We'll send a summons request to match the entrance ceremony date, so please respond after you've completed all your preparations.'

When Ban Yu-won returned to his room after finishing the interview with her, someone was already there.

"Who are you!"

The moment he sensed Ban Yu-won's presence, a handsome man drew a glowing sword from thin air and pointed it at him.

If it had been just half a day ago, he would have been startled and fallen on his backside, but having already faced life and death situations with goblins, Ban Yu-won was no longer surprised by a blade being pointed at him.

In fact, even before that, the Goblin Club had reacted, blocking it in mid-air.

"Can't you tell by the clothes? I'm a student here. Your roommate."

"Huh? Ah, ah... I apologize. I was just finishing my practical evaluation, so my nerves were on edge..."

Understanding the situation from Ban Yu-won's calm explanation, the man realized his mistake and hurriedly withdrew his sword, bowing his head to Ban Yu-won in apology.

He seemed to have a somewhat hasty personality, but he wasn't someone who lacked manners.

Now that admission was confirmed, the roommate's personality was important, and it seemed there was no need to worry too much.

"I heard you're also from the lower dimension special admission."

"Hm? Ah, you... I mean, you're also from a lower dimension?"

"Ban Yu-won. Call me by my name, casually."

At first, he had thought about going straight home... but he decided it would be good to chat a bit with the person who would be his roommate before that.

"What? By your name? No, that can't be. Ban, nice to meet you. I'm Ars Lightro, no, Ars Light. You can call me Light... you can."

Judging by his startled reaction to being told to use first names, it seemed that in Light's world, calling each other by first names was considered extremely rude.

Ban Yu-won, newly aware of the cultural difference, observed his future roommate, Ars Light.

Having just finished the practical evaluation, he was covered in filth, but despite that, he was frustratingly handsome.

'I thought I wasn't bad-looking myself, but... looking at this guy just makes me feel inferior, seriously.'

A small, slender face, sharp and deeply sparkling blue eyes, wavy golden hair flowing over his shoulders.

From his high, pointed nose to his delicately shimmering lips, he had every attractive feature imaginable, making him so perfect it almost felt artificial.

Without exaggeration, he looked like a prince straight out of a shoujo manga.

'Wait, why am I describing a guy's looks in such detail? This is really annoying, seriously.'

So he stopped.

Instead, he asked him.

"You said you just finished the practical evaluation? So did you fight blind goblins too?"

"What? Blind goblins?"

But an unexpected response came back.

"No, that can't be. Such low-level monsters can be easily hunted by soldiers with basic training in our country. What I faced were trolls and ogres. Thanks to that, I'm exhausted from trudging through swamps for hours. Phew."

...Trolls and ogres?

He couldn't judge based on game knowledge, but no matter how he thought about it, those seemed much stronger than goblins...?!

Ban Yu-won could only gape, unable to respond to the answer he received.

Then he noticed something: the Goblin Club that had blocked Light's sword earlier.

It was drooping limply on Ban Yu-won's shoulder, apparently having used up all its energy, or rather, its goblin power, to block Light's sword.

And this was the artifact that had split the Goblin Warrior's head in one blow!

"I see. Then, Ban, are you in the special abilities category? That must be it. The artifact that just blocked my sword was quite extraordinary too."

Light nodded as if he had figured something out from Ban Yu-won's bewildered expression.

"I may not meet the criteria for birth dimension and other conditions, but I'm confident in my combat ability alone. My admission condition was to pass a practical evaluation of a higher level than the general admission."

"I see..."

He had thought the lower dimension special admission was for students with less combat power than the general admission, but it seemed there were other cases as well.

He felt pathetic for having felt even a little kinship with this inhumanly beautiful man upon hearing he was also from the lower dimension special admission!

"H-hey, Ban! Don't look so down. After all, we've all enrolled in this academy to receive proper education and grow, right?"

"Yeah, that's right."

Light, noticing Ban Yu-won's deflated mood, spoke to him considerately.

To think he even had a good personality!

The only element he could win in was language ability.

He didn't want to brag about how great his ability was, nor did he want to look pathetic doing so.

Unable to bear it any longer, Ban Yu-won decided to make a quick retreat.

"You said you were tired from crossing the swamp. Go wash up and rest. Actually, I'm planning to visit my hometown briefly before the entrance ceremony. I'll see you at the ceremony."

"What? They gave you permission to visit your hometown during the admission waiting period? The academy did?"

"Huh? Ah, yes."

"This is unbelievable."

He had thought it was nothing special, but Light was showing the most surprised expression since meeting him.

"Ban, you must have truly extraordinary abilities. For those haughty academy professors to grant such a convenience to a student admitted through the lower dimension special admission..."

"...Is this really that amazing?"

"Haha, don't you know how amazing this is? The beings from higher dimensions look down on and disregard lower dimensions so much, acting as if they're gods... Haven't you experienced such discrimination through inter-dimensional exchanges?"

Light's expression was bitter as he said those words.

Ban Yu-won responded awkwardly.

"Sorry, actually I just learned about lower dimensions and higher dimensions today. I don't even know what's so great about higher dimensions."

"Well, the resources, knowledge, and even magic power you can have from birth are different... What? You just learned about it today?!"

"Ah, so there are such differences? But let's talk about the details later. I was dragged to the practical evaluation without even telling my parents, so I think I need to go back for now."

"O-okay. I see..."

"Well then."

Ban Yu-won took out the paper the professor had given him earlier and tore it.

Without even the slightest delay, the power of spatial movement activated, transporting him to his original world, Earth.

Leaving behind only the handsome man frozen with a surprised expression.

*

"Oh, you startled me! Ban Yu-won, where did you go after just leaving the acceptance screen open? I thought you were so happy that you ran out..."

What was in front of his eyes as he finally returned to his familiar room was his older sister, Ban Yu-mi.

Wearing a loose sleeveless shirt and hot pants, rolling around on his bed while reading a comic book, she looked every bit like a swan.

"Why are you like this in my room?"

"I can't spill snack crumbs on my bed."

"Get out. Scram."

Come to think of it, there was an empty snack bag rolling on the floor.

The crumbs would be scattered on the bed like flower petals, crunching.

Ban Yu-won sighed and tried to kick his sister off, but she quickly rolled her body to avoid it before he could.

Of course, Ban Yu-won had moved aggressively knowing she would dodge it.

After all, she was a student at H University, the most prestigious in Korea.

Not just that, but a national team fencing athlete preparing for the Olympics as an active player.

But then that active Olympic fencing athlete suddenly sat up and said to him,

"Hey, Ban Yu-won-ie."

"Don't use that weird way of speaking."

"No, I'm not joking. Did you suddenly change?"

Ban Yu-mi's eyes flashed sharply.

Ban Yu-won retorted, looking at her with contemptuous eyes as if to say, 'You just noticed?'

"Can't you see the clothes wrapping me gorgeously? This oppa has evolved from growth stage to maturity stage. You're no match for me anymore."

"No match my a... butt!"

Ban Yu-mi lunged at him with her hand raised like a sword.

At that moment, Ban Yu-won moved half a step to the side, lightly avoiding her attack while raising his own hand to strike at her.

But thanks to her quick reaction and twisting her body, he couldn't land the hit, and instead, he recognized the sharp hand strike coming from the right the next moment and swung his hand to deflect it.

"What... What is this? What's really going on?"

All attacks were blocked, and although she had dodged, a sharp counterattack had come.

As Ban Yu-mi plopped down on the bed, dumbfounded by her brother's counterattack, Ban Yu-won calmly said,

"Listen."

"Tell me."

"Actually, I've always thought that you might not be of our family bloodline."

"I swear I'm gonna kill you."

Ban Yu-won caught his sister's swiftly flying hand strike and continued,

"But it turns out I had a similar talent sleeping inside me too."

"No, how can this be explained by talent! I've been swinging a sword for years!"

Ban Yu-mi was a case of being born with a tin can for a brain and a monster for a body, unlike the Ban family, which was full of people who lived by their heads.

She had been good at anything physical since she was young, and under the barbaric preference for wielding weapons and beating people, she had contemplated between kendo and fencing, finally deciding on fencing, which allowed her to go to the Olympics, when she was in the third year of middle school.

However, she still consistently practiced kendo alongside fencing, and in the midst of that, she was a monster who had returned from the last Olympics with three gold medals and one silver medal combined in team and individual events.

So Ban Yu-won had been thinking since he was young, looking at her, that she surely couldn't be of their family bloodline, but when he entered the dungeon this time, he found that he too had a similar talent for combat sleeping inside him.

It's just that unless it was a huge stimulus like a life-threatening crisis, it hadn't awakened, so he hadn't known until now.

'And now Swordsmanship 3 has been added to that as well.'

But as he knew himself, this level still couldn't surpass an Olympic athlete.

To surpass monsters like Light, to proudly claim ownership of the Tower of Babel, he still had a long, long way to go.

"Ban Yu-won! So what happened?!"

"Shut up! Let's have a family meeting instead."

Pushing away his sister who was yelling at him as if she was about to eat him alive, Ban Yu-won declared.

"Ha, you block one hand strike and you're trying to climb on top of your sister's head."

"Quickly."

"Tsk, if it's nothing special, you're really dead."

Although exasperated by Ban Yu-won's one-sided words, Ban Yu-mi obediently went out of his room and took out her phone.

Thinking that her brother must have really experienced something in this half-day, and that he seems to want to tell about it at the family meeting.

Ban Yu-won shouted at his sister's back as she was leaving the room.

"Sis, call grandpa too."

"What, are you crazy?"

"Call him."

"Ah, whatever, I'll call him so you do what you want. The men in the Ban family are so damn tiresome..."

Ban Yu-mi shook her head and went out to spread the word about the family meeting.

Ban Yu-won stretched out his legs and looked at his sister's smooth back as she walked away, thinking as he always did, 'If only her temper was fixed, she'd be popular,' and sighed.

Then he picked up the empty snack bag lying on the floor without thinking.

[Would you like to absorb the language concept, envelope (封紙), from the empty snack bag?]

"...Well, look at this."

A smile spread across his face.

It seems there's a need to secure a budget at the family meeting.

*

After Ban Yu-won left, Ars Light, left alone, remained in shock for a while before realizing that his body was covered in filth. He let out a light sigh and headed to the shower room.

As he threw away all his clothes stained with various dirty substances from the swamp, and the blood and bodily fluids of trolls and ogres, a cross-shaped necklace was revealed on his sturdy naked body.

"I could take it off now... No, no. I should get used to it."

After a moment of contemplation, Light finally showered with the necklace on.

While showering, what naturally came to mind was the face of his future roommate, Ban Yu-won.

"I should have gotten a single room after all. Sigh, what to do..."

Fortunately, he didn't seem like a person with a bad personality.

Moreover, although it's a bit rude to say, his combat ability seemed much lower than his own, so he could subdue him quickly if anything happened.

However, that invisible artifact was quite surprising.

Even though it was swung reflexively and didn't have much power behind it, it still managed to block his holy sword.

As the owner of an extraordinary artifact himself, he could tell.

That artifact was no ordinary item.

'It's not just about obtaining such artifacts. It takes incredible talent to handle them. Moreover, that connection pattern, perhaps he directly... It must be the talent that the professors are paying attention to. Not a half-baked talent like mine, but a complete one.'

A talent that had already blossomed and would continue to develop brilliantly in the future.

He could glimpse a fragment of such talent in Ban Yu-won.

Unlike himself.

"No... No!"

He gritted his teeth as if trying to deny the thoughts that had surfaced.

His small fist pounded hard against the shower room wall.

'If I let my heart weaken, I'll be swallowed up in that moment. I can't crumble. I've managed to get into the academy somehow. I must...'

He must climb the tower.

He would gain the power to protect his world.

Ars Light scrubbed his body vigorously, making a strong resolution.

In the midst of this, he suddenly realized something.

'When I was talking to him earlier, it was so natural that I didn't notice, but... that guy seemed to be speaking Union language directly.'

The language of everyone who sets foot in Union Academy is unified into a single language called 'Union language'.

Professors, students, and of course, all books in the academy are unified in this language.

This was a power that went beyond a skill that an individual could handle, applied across a wide range of areas.

However, to explain it precisely, it could be seen as simultaneous interpretation.

Even if you speak in your native language, it's naturally translated into Union language, and when you hear Union language, you can understand it in your native language.

The same goes for reading.

Therefore, everyone communicates in Union language.

But there's an inevitable small drawback to this.

The lip movements and pronunciation don't match.

Of course, it's natural since you're speaking your native language, but it comes out changed into Union language.

For people with keen senses like Ars Light, this could feel a bit irritating.

But why did that man's lip movements and pronunciation match perfectly...?

If he knew Union language, it doesn't make sense that he said he learned about the concepts of lower and higher dimensions today.

'Was his native language similar to Union language...?'

That was the most plausible conclusion Light could come up with.

Surely, he couldn't have mastered Union language immediately after encountering it today.

Besides, this isn't that important compared to the artifact he possesses.

Ars Light shrugged, dried his body with a towel, and grasped his sword.

There were two days left until admission.

To be recognized for his overwhelming skills in an academy teeming with residents of higher dimensions, he couldn't waste even that short period.