“...” Another blow is aimed towards her stomach and she is unable to do anything to prevent it from coming. The fist makes contact with her, causing her to cough roughly. An elbow slams down on her back and she hits the floor hard.

Siyeon groans, feeling like all of her bones were shattered upon impact. Her opponent slowly rolls her over onto her back to face the ceiling. The face of her professor hovers over her as well. Both faces are contorted in concern for the fallen girl.

“You okay, Lee Siyeon?” her professor asks. Siyeon manages a nod from her position and sits up with some difficulty.

“Okay class, what did you learn from that fight?”

One of the (obnoxious, in Siyeon’s humble opinion) boys raises his hand, “How easy it is to beat up rank one trash?” His group of friends laugh at his comment, but the professor is unamused by their lack of focus. Siyeon clenches her jaw as she stands up, wobbly from the fight. Her opponent, a rank four student, grabs her arm to steady her.

“No. If Lee Siyeon were a demon, you would have already been killed, Park Jaewon. For underestimating your opponent.” the boy in question simply smirks.

“I doubt I’d die from a weakling like her.” He sneered. Siyeon raises her middle finger to flip him off before dragging her battered body to the infirmary. Handong, the chinese transfer student that just beat her up in front of the class, followed alongside her.

Siyeon watches the blonde girl from her perpherical, curious. Handong rarely spoke much in and out of class. She also didn't talk much to other students, let alone be seen with a group of friends.

“Is there something on my face?” Handong asks, breaking the awkward silence as they walk towards the infirmary. Her chinese accent made her korean sound a little strange but it was still understandable.

Siyeon shakes her head, “Just...you don't have to walk me. I know where to go.”

“Oh, I thought that it would be bad manners to let you go on your own. It’s not good sportsmanship.” the chinese girl explained calmly. At least she wasn’t doing it out of pity or to torment the other, much to Siyeon’s relief. It seems that in the few months she’s transferred here, the chinese girl was unaffected by the hierarchy that went on here. Siyeon was glad, because if that meant one less person to bother her while she studied here, the better.

They open the door to the infirmary, stopping their brief conversation there. As usual, Jiu, one of the highest ranked students here, was seated at the nurse’s table. Her pale blonde hair shone in the sun, with her round glasses slipping slightly off her face.

“Ah? Siyeon? Here again?” Jiu’s doctor coat flowed as she pulled the curtain aside to reveal an empty bed for Siyeon.

Siyeon snorted through her nose as she sat down on the bed. The black-haired girl winced as she pulled up her sleeve and pant leg. Jiu’s hands quickly got to work with practiced ease. It was obvious to Handong, who was watching the whole exchange silently, that Siyeon got injured in their live combat class often.

The ranking system of HF Academy was definitely strange to her. But who was she to pass up the chance to study at one of the greatest Hero academies in the world? Even if this academy reinforced this strange hierarchy, Handong needed to be here. She wondered if these two girls felt the same way, seeing as how they are different compared to most people she’d met here.

“Ow ow ow! Be more gentle, will you?!” Siyeon whines as Jiu applied more disinfectant to a scrape in her hand. Jiu shushes the younger girl and tells her to tolerate the pain a little more. “If you’re going to be a hero, shouldn't you work on your pain tolerance a little? What if you stubbed your toe on a rock and you cry like a baby in front of a demon?”

“...Sounds like you’re talking from experience, Dr. Jiu.” Siyeon says mischievously. Jiu rolls her eyes in exasperation. “We both know I’m talking about a certain windy . We were both there to see it happen. Thankfully, it was a low level demon so some firearms from yours truly took care of the problem.”

“Also, I’m not a full-fledged doctor yet.” Jiu reaches up to flick Siyeon’s forehead. “Ow, this is patient abuse. I’m going to report you to your supervisor.” the two girls narrow their eyes at each other, with Handong standing awkwardly in the middle. She isn’t sure if they are joking or now, seeing how serious they are glaring at each other.

Like telepathy, they both turn to her at once. “So, are you injured anywhere?” Jiu asks with a smile. Handong almost gets whiplash from how fast Jiu’s mood changed.

Siyeon sports an easy smile as she props her legs up on the bed. “Nah, she totally kicked my in combat training. Could barely land a hit-” A huge gust of wind knocks the large window open, scattering papers and curtains. A tall girl with wavy black hair comes flying through the window, landing on the ground in front of Jiu. The moment the girl’s body hits the ground, the wind immediately stops.

“What the f-”

Now, Handong’s impression of Jiu was that she was kind. Doctors or people in the medical field in general tend to give off nice impressions. Heck, the pale blonde hair and the resting smiley face were all good signs. But as she watches Jiu place her foot on top the the girl’s head, she wonders if she somehow entered an alternate universe.

The girl squirms under Jiu’s foot, “Ack! that’s my head you’re stepping on you hag!” Jiu give the most sarcastic smile she can muster, making her look a little scary.

“Sorry, I thought you were an annoying little bug that flew into the infirmary-oh wait, you are.” Without any mercy, Jiu gives the girl a little kick in the stomach. “Anyways, get up, you’re making the floors dirty.”

The girl does as she is told, but not without a lot of whining and kicking, making the doctor-in-training even more annoyed. The girl climbs on the bed that Siyeon is sitting on and plops her head on Siyeon’s lap.

“Singnie, that meanie doctor was stepping on my head and treating me like a nuisanceeeeeee.” Siyeon laughs and pats the girl on the head as if she were a dog. “What did you do this time Yooh?”

“Nothing.” was Yoohyeon’s immediate reply. That definitely meant that she did something. Siyeon and Jiu give the girl unimpressed looks when she tried to pout and look as innocent as possible.