Unclassified; Zero and Still Standing

Chapter 1: An ordinary day

"In the beginning, the world was one... and so were its people."

The instructor’s voice was steady, practiced, like he had said the same words a hundred times before. Using a marker, he drew a circle on the board to illustrate.

"Before classification, before division. Before the North and the South."

A few students stared blankly at the board. Others didn’t bother to pretend, doodling, picking fingernails, looking outside. Some even passed notes discreetly whenever the instructor faced the board.

"Abilities emerged, and society adapted. Then a power struggle ensued, leading to chaos that divided the world. Shortly after, the system was established."

He paused, glancing over the room. "Any questions?"

The class was silent.

A chair creaked. At the back of the class, Yesu was asleep.

Not slumped. Not restless. Just... asleep. Like none of it concerned her. freёwebnovel.com

The instructor frowned. "Yesuin!" he barked.

Yesu jumped. "Yes?"

"Care to give us a summary of what I just said?"

Yesu stifled a yawn. "Summary?"

"You heard right. On your feet."

Yesu rose sluggishly, stretching. All eyes were on her. She stared at the circle drawn on the board now divided into four and sighed tiredly.

How does he expect me to summarize a summary?" She mumbled.

"Speak up, we don’t have all day."

Yesu rubbed her eyes, coughed. "In the beginning... the world was one, and so were its people."

Some students chuckled at the familiar intro.

"Before classification... before division... before the North and the South. Abilities showed up, people adapted... then there was fighting... and the world split."

A pause.

"Then the system came after." Yesu finished with a cocky smile. The class seemed happy with Yesu, everyone cheered.

Everyone except the girl sitting in the last row. Quiet, head bent too low, almost like she was trying to disappear.

Seeing the student’s approval, the instructor’s face hardened.

"Seems like you’ve been paying attention... despite appearances."

’Seems like you’ve been teaching the same thing for the past year.’ Yesu thought.

Her gaze shifted to the girl with her head bent. A boy was poking her from behind with something she couldn’t see.

"Let’s see how you’ll handle answering some real questions." The instructor picked up his textbook from the desk.

Yesu glanced at the textbook. She already knew how this would end.

"...Oh, fuck me."

A few gasps.

The instructor slammed the textbook shut. "You said what?"

Yesu’s mouth flew open for an excuse but there was none.

****

Two girls were walking by the school field during lunch break. One glanced at the field and paused.

"Who is that?" She asked, puzzled. Her partner turned to look.

"That’s Yesu. She’s in my class."

Yesu was running laps around the field.

"What’s up with her?"

"She got punished for using ’street language’ with the history instructor..."

The girl studied Yesu. Her pace had not slowed.

Not once.

"... but that was two hours ago..."

The first girl frowned. "Shouldn’t she be tired by now?"

"Whatever." the classmate said dismissively. "She’s weird."

The girls went on, glancing back at Yesu till they took a bend.

The sun was harsh. The ground burned through the soles of her shoes.

Yesu kept running.

Her legs should have given out by now, but they didn’t. Her breathing steadied on its own, too quickly, too easily.

She didn’t think about it, she just kept moving. Like stopping wasn’t an option.

She didn’t know how long she had been running, time seemed to have stopped. That was until she heard someone scream her name.

"Yesu!"

She slowed down a few paces before coming to a stop. For a moment it had seemed her legs had forgotten how to stop running.

Millie was waving frantically at her from a stand.

"Great."

Yesu knew what was coming, and wasn’t looking forward to it one bit.

****

The sound of a ticking clock, the smell of dusty old files and the constant creak of a reclining chair were all too familiarly associated with the principal’s office.

With which Yesu was fully acquainted.

"Now let’s get started, shall we?" Principal Reeds inclined forward, flipping through a file on his desk.

"Yesuin Kaelitha. Second year. Aged seventeen. Rank 0..." He snickered "...obviously."

Yesu rolled her eyes.

"No registered parental guardian." Principal Reeds said lastly before shifting his gaze to Yesu.

"You are literally at the bottom of the food chain. And yet, you act like the rules don’t apply to you."

Principal Reeds sighed. "I’ve been getting complaints nonstop about your behavior all week"

’Here we go again.’ Yesu thought.

"And I can’t seem to wrap my head around this because you always end up in my office."

"I’m sorry about Instructor Maxwell’s class. It was a slip-up."

"You were sleeping."

"I meant the ’street language’."

"What about your mid-lesson slumber? Not sorry for that?"

"Pardon me sir but it wasn’t much of a lesson."

The man just walked in every week to recite the same words, drawing the same circle on the board.

Principal Reeds frowned deeply.

"Toilet duty. Two weeks."

****

The toilet looked like a dump, smelled like one too. There were rolls of toilet paper scattered on the floor with muddy footprints all around when it hadn’t rained all week.

There was even gum on the toilet seats. Probably pranks... but still, it was a public toilet for crying out loud.

"Ugh. Public."

After two hours of labor, Yesu was done. She hurriedly ran to class to get her backpack.

She had started after school hours, now it was already twilight so the school was basically empty.

As she hurried down the stairs, she heard someone sobbing.

She paused and listened. Nothing.

Yesu looked around her, shrugged and continued on her way.

Then she heard it again, not as loud as the first time, a bit suppressed.

She stopped, followed the sound downstairs to the gym.

She could hear voices behind the door, threatening.

Without thinking, Yesu pushed the doors open.