Chapter 3: Academy Island, Academia (3)

6 AM.
I barely opened my eyes before the alarm went off.
Maybe Lee Sihyuk’s body wasn’t used to waking up early.
It felt like I could fall back asleep at any moment.

“…Ughhhhh.”

Making a zombie-like groan, I somehow crawled to the bathroom.
My mind finally cleared after washing my face with cold water.
After changing into some comfortable clothes, I left the dormitory immediately.
For at least the next 100 days.
Unless something special comes up, I’ll have to wake up at this time.

‘Advice.’
It’s one of Leo’s character development methods, giving a general guideline on how to live day-to-day.
Whether a character follows this advice or not depends on their favorability or personality, though.
And using this ‘Advice’ system, there was a mandatory training course that had to be done at least once.
It was a way to significantly increase a character’s stats without investing any resources.
What I’m about to do now is one of them.

Go for a morning jog for 100 days.
It’s an advice option activated by the choice ‘How about a morning workout?’, which increases Stamina by 3 upon completion.
If a character didn’t have traits like ‘Unathletic,’ ‘Shut-in,’ or ‘Weak-willed,’ it was a training regimen usually completed within one semester.
There was no need to do it consecutively; you just had to fill up 100 days somehow.
Arriving at the nearby sports field I had aimed for, I did some light warm-ups to loosen my body.
I didn’t know exactly how long the character was supposed to jog, so I planned to run until I reached my limit.

“Ah, but before that.”

I checked the ‘Status’ I had typed out on my phone while walking over.
I don’t have a cheat-like system window, but I have to make do with what I have.

If my memory serves me right, Lee Sihyuk’s initial stats without any training were definitely this.
These were the initial stats clearly defined by the game system, separate from the Awakener Level, which was Academia’s own evaluation.
Trust is a stat that activates after meeting the ‘Teacher,’ so there’s no way for me to check it right now.
So I just left it blank for now.
Since the average initial stat for an ordinary C-rank Awakener is 10, right now, Lee Sihyuk has the exact average stats of a D-rank Awakener.

Because I played the game pretty hardcore, the methods for efficiently raising a character are already ingrained in my mind.
In Lee Sihyuk’s case, you just had to maximize his Stamina stat and give him a decent amount of Guts, and his development was complete.
It was a build befitting a supporter who just needed to survive no matter what.
But I have no intention of being satisfied with that.
Just because I possessed a supporter character doesn’t mean I have to focus only on a supportive role.
Somehow, I planned to use every method at my disposal to become stronger.
The reason is simple.
I only have one life.

In the game, even if I failed, I could always try again, and all I’d lose was, at most, the action points I invested.
Even those would refill over time, and in a pinch, I could use currency to recover them quickly.
But now, I am living in that game’s ‘world’.
In other words, if I die even once, it’s over.
I plan to set up a few safety nets, but it’s uncertain whether they will actually work.

I don’t want to die.
That’s why I have to get stronger.

Steeling my resolve, I started sprinting with all my might.

And 5 minutes later.

“Haa… ugh… gack… ack… keuk… heok…”

I was splayed out on the ground like a discarded trash bag.
This ‘6’ in Stamina must have been a lower stat than I’d imagined.
This body has less stamina than my real one.
Well, I achieved the goal of running until I collapsed from exhaustion, but can I really count this as a full day’s workout?

“Absolutely not!!!!!!”

I let out a beastly scream and got up again.
Somehow, I psyched myself up with my Guts (5) and ran.

And 3 minutes later.

“Haa… gack… ugh. Cough… cough…”

I collapsed, clutching my side like a split-open food waste bag.
Coughs escaped on their own, and my throat burned.
My head was spinning and my vision was fading; it felt like I was about to pass out right then and there.
‘Wait… isn’t this actually dangerous?’
‘People dying from overexerting themselves while running, wasn’t that something you’d occasionally see on the news?’
And the place I was at happened to be a deserted sports field in the morning.
There’d be no one to help.

What is this.
To die so…
pathetically—

“Senior Sihyuk?”

Just before losing consciousness, I thought I heard a familiar voice.

“You should reflect on your actions.”
“…Yeah.”
“You’re a total weakling with garbage stamina, what would you have done if I wasn’t here! You would’ve just dried up and died like a squid!”

Baek Soso muttered with a deep sigh.

‘A weakling, huh.’
‘Right, this girl had a habit of talking like that.’
‘In a pressured situation, she’s as docile as a lamb and listens well, but when she has the upper hand, she gets excited and acts cheeky like this.’
‘Because of that personality, there were two coexisting factions: the Baek Soso abuse faction, who only chose options to pressure her, saying things like ‘I just want to punch her once,’ and the affection faction, who only chose options to be berated by her, saying ‘I’m actually into this.’

‘For the record, I was in the abuse faction.’

“Anyway…. Huh? But wait, isn’t this what they call a ‘savior of one’s life’?”
“…Yeah.”
“You’re being a bit blunt for someone speaking to their savior. Don’t you think, weak-stamina Senior Sihyuk?”

As if she was holding a grudge from yesterday, Baek Soso started jeering the moment she got the chance.
Looking at that face made me want to smack her on the head with my fist, but having just been pulled back from death’s door, I had no energy.

“…Thanks.”
“That’s not it. Try repeating after me. Thaaank. Yooou.”
“What?”

When I made a fierce expression, Baek Soso let out a ‘Hiiik-‘ sound and jumped up from the bench.
As she did, my head, which had been resting on Baek Soso’s lap, fell straight down.

Thump.
Ouch.

“Oh… are you okay? It’s just that you suddenly made that face-”
“I’m fine. It hurts a little, though.”

The shock cleared my head a bit, so I got up.
My head spun slightly, but it wasn’t as bad as before.

“Ah, here.”

I slowly drank from the water bottle Baek Soso handed me.
Only after closing my eyes and taking several deep breaths did I fully come to my senses.

“Are you feeling a bit better now?”
“Yeah. Thanks to you.”
“Anyway, please be careful. Don’t overdo it when you have such garbage stamina. You should live within your means, Senior.”
“Once.”
“Yes?”
“I only put up with it three times. Just so you know.”

Baek Soso seemed to ponder the meaning of my words for a moment, then quickly averted her gaze, breaking into a cold sweat.

“Got it?”
“…Yes.”
“More importantly, why are you here?”

It’s not like you followed me or anything.

“That’s my question for you. This is the place I always use.”
“Ah.”

‘Right.’

Baek Soso is fundamentally a hard worker.
Her initial Guts stat was a whopping 17, an unrivaled figure even among 5-star characters.
She’s the type to diligently tackle everything—academics, ability development, training—without neglecting a single one.
As the successor to the Biyen Style, she received high expectations from those around her, but her first test resulted in a below-average D-rank Awakener level.
But Baek Soso didn’t fall into despair and steadily raised her rank, one step at a time.
Now, with the entrance ceremony two days away, she is B-rank, but depending on the story, she has the potential to grow up to S-rank.
Being such a hard worker, it’s natural for her to be running on the field from early in the morning.
She’s probably been doing this for years.

When given the advice ‘How about a morning workout?’, Baek Soso would reply, ‘Something so obvious? You useless teacher!’, and even after 100 days, her Stamina stat wouldn’t increase.
This was a unique trait that applied only to Baek Soso among all the characters in LeoA.
It was only natural.
Because it was something she already did all the time.

“Senior Sihyuk?”
‘So it wasn’t just some head canon from the affection faction kids.’
“…What nonsense are you talking about? Are you really okay?”

I answered by getting up from my spot.
My whole body was screaming in fatigue, but I could still move.

“Maybe I’ll run a little more.”
“I’m against that idea…”
“If things go south, I’ll be counting on you again.”

I kicked off the ground again.
Thinking of the girl who must have kicked off this same ground, alone, day after day.

And 1 minute later.

“Haa… heok… hak… haaaak…”
“This is why I said I was against it.”

As I lay collapsed on the ground, Baek Soso effortlessly lifted me up.
Then she carried me to the shaded bench where I had been lying just moments before.
‘She must have carried me like this before, too.’
It was incredible strength, hard to believe it came from such a small body.
‘A 5-star character, after all.’

“Senior, this is your first day, right?”
“…Yeah.”
“Just being motivated won’t get you anywhere. You’ve done enough for today, so just rest there. Oh, and from tomorrow, wait for me to get here! If someone like you runs so recklessly, you could really die.”

I silently nodded my head.

“Sigh, honestly.”

Baek Soso let out a deep sigh and slowly walked towards the track.
And then, just as she always had, she ran around the track endlessly.