Chapter 5

This was going to be the 2nd time Jennie’s class to participate in the military practicum. They had gone through the same process as the now Year 4 students but the difference this time was they would be taking in charge of creating their own platoon and lead the Year 4 students. Some of the Year 5 students opted to join Jennie’s unit rather than make their own.  Those who opted to joined once unit instead of leading one had the privilege to become senior members but of course, they had to go through the same recruitment process established by the respective unit leaders.

In the Kingdom of Almeria, the practicum was made solely for all the participating students of Seoul Academy. The students belonged to either status in the top 2 who possesses physical strength or special abilities are mandated to enroll in the practicum. This aimed for them to be familiarized with the system in defending the kingdom and its people when the need arises.

In Lisa’s case, she voluntarily enrolled in this program as part of her major to be a military doctor. Her father was a commoner but a genius despite being put into the lowest status, he excelled in many ways and was able to make a name on his own. She wanted to be like that as well.

The students were now lining up as they were instructed. There were a lot of students wanting to join a certain Jennie Kim’s platoon because of the prestige it would bring into their family name. As the Grand Duke’s daughter, she was highly sought for in the society and everyone wanted to have a chance to be in her favor. Her family had made big military contribution throughout history and could be seen mentioning of their achievements in all the kingdom historical archives.

The other leaders knew that Jennie’s unit would cause a huge buzz all throughout the school and up to outside the academy. However, they did not mind it when only a few participated to their unit. They knew once the recruitment process from Jennie’s unit was done then, there would be a lot of students who would seek the other left behind units. Hence, the other platoon unit decided to delay their own recruitment process and let Jennie’s unit to go first.

Jennie was very selective of the students participating in her unit. She perfectly knew that some nobles were just signing up because of the prestige and she hated that. Together with Jisoo, her chosen vice-captain, she planned out the whole recruitment process and pattern it into actual military process.

Due to this, most of the students were seen giving up before they even reach half way of the process while some students were seen passing out with medics rushing in, they were then unable to push through with it.

Nonetheless, there were students who passed and made it into final cut. They were highly evaluated and praised by the faculty of the academy who watched the recruitment process under Jennie’s unit. The faculty deemed them to be best of the best among the batches participating in this year’s military practicum.

Once everyone had freshened up and wore their special uniform in red & black pattern, they were called to be welcomed by the unit leader. Jennie followed by Jisoo walked on the podium to give her welcome speech. Upon briefly glancing each of the students who passed the recruitment process, she thought she had skipped to see someone. She secretly looked at Jisoo who was frowning, sand it confirmed her suspicions. Still, she did not dwell on it much and proceed to what she needed to do. She gave a little speech welcoming the members of her unit, discussed about the rules and the conduct one must adhere to as representative of her unit.  Then, she dismissed them telling them to take a good rest and tomorrow night, there would be a feast for everyone. Everyone cheered at the word feast and celebrated. She excused herself afterwards reasoning that she needed to prepare all the necessary reports to the academy about what had transpired. Jisoo nodded not wanting to bother her knowing the fact that, it was all an excuse for Jennie not to be in too many crowds. She hated mingling with people. Jisoo then walked towards her Chaeyoung to congratulate her and to ask for a certain someone who was not on the list.

“Chaeyoung, my baby, you made it! Congratulations!” Jisoo cutely ran towards the blonde girl who could not escape her sudden hug.

“Arghhh, get off…other people are looking.” Rosé said trying to pull away from the strong girl, but Jisoo would not budge.

“Unniee…. people, might think about special treatment” Rosé whined softly in her ears. She saw people looking at her and Jisoo with accusing eyes.

Jisoo then let go but still put her arm around Rosé’s shoulders, “I dare them accuse me or us like that and I will show them just the “special” treatment I can offer.”

Jisoo said loud enough to be heard by other students. She looked warningly to the others warning with her deadly gaze. Rosé simply sighed at the protectiveness of Jisoo.

“Come here, let’s get away from the prying eyes” Jisoo agreed changing her expression to a smiling one. Rosé was a lovely woman and very sweet, so she was really lucky to be introduced to her and be her fiancée.

“By the way, I didn’t see Lisa during recruitment. I thought you and her will join our unit together. You, two, have been talking about it excitedly before” Jisoo then asked when they were now inside Rosé’s room.

She was admiring the red uniform she was handed over personally by Jisoo. She then sadly put it down on her bed, to answer Jisoo’s question.

“She had some sudden change of plans. I tried convincing her but all I receive was an apology” Rosé answered disappointingly but she could not force Lisa to join her if she didn’t want to. And so, she took the joined alone. She wondered if Lisa was doing ok.

“Oh well, we will see her soon enough. Too bad, I thought all of us, four, will have a chance to be in the unit and do some activities for 6 months together” Jisoo said expressing her regret but there was nothing she could do. She just wondered why Lisa would change her mind suddenly. She thought of Jennie being the reason, but the vice-captain knew that it was more of a reason of her joining than not.

~~~

It was already close to having a sunset and Lisa could be seen panting loudly. It was the final stage of the recruitment process, and she was almost about to pass it. Some onlookers cheered like they were watching some entertainment show. Ignoring it as she prepared herself, she watched her opponent who was also the same state as her or even worse, charged at her.

“Ahhhhh”” he shouted as if it would scare Lisa away. He gave everything he had on the final attack he had left hioing to lay a solid punch on her, but Lisa managed to outsmart him and easily avoided his advances, giving him a single punch on his chin then, her opponent eventually passed out.

The guy belonged to a military status and a Year 5 students, but Lisa managed to defeat him. The recruitment process she just participated was very barbaric. It was simply a matter of defeating opponents by fighting against one another. For the entire day, she spent her time brawling against those status higher than her. She was the only commoner who participated this year so some were shocked to see her winning against her opponents. Some admired her strength and some just hated her more because of blind jealousy.  

Nevertheless, she passed and ignored those jealous people whispering some accusations of her cheating the process. She knew that there was nothing easy in the society she lived in but still, she wanted to take a chance and prove herself by her own means. Others could not understand this about her not even the Grand Duke and so, instead of trying hard to explain what she wanted in life, she would just show it to everyone.

Lisa was now going back to her room after the congratulatory speech of the platoon leader. She was handed out a black uniform for her to wear as a member of the unit. She was also invited to a feast, tomorrow night to celebrate but she opted to stay in her room or see Rosé as she owe the girl an apology again for bailing out on her on a last minute.

“You’ve made it! As expected, even the likes of you could pass the process I personally prepared for. Congratulations!” Kai smirked appearing in front of her.

Lisa inwardly rolled her eyes at the man in front of her. She hated the man ever since she was a child and she wanted to avoid him as much as possibly, but life doesn’t work that way in her favor.

“Yes…thank you, captain” she answered showing her courtesy to her now superior. It made Kai smirked more. He loved the idea of power & position especially, he enjoyed showcasing his position and rubbing it to people below him like in the case of, Lisa. He couldn’t wait to show Lisa that she must not covet something out of her each and there could only be grave consequences in being a greedy commoner like her.

He walked towards her, and they were side to side at each other.

He tapped her shoulder, “You still owe me…don’t you forget that” Kai whispered to him before bidding goodbye. Lisa could only clench her fist in anger. She would make sure that after this Kai would not have anything more against her and she would avoid him in the future at all costs.

Flashback

Kai and Lisa were left alone to talk after Rosé left. There was no need for Kai to introduce himself as both perfectly knew who the man was. Rosé insisted to be with her just in case something happened as she did not like the aura the man was emitting when she spoke to Lisa. He looked like a gentleman and Rosé knew him as one of the admirers of Jennie. Kai or Kim Jong-In, he was a proud long distant line of the Kim family attached to the Grand Duke’s name. Sharing this connection with Jennie Kim, he was deemed as a potential fiancée for the esteemed daughter. It was not uncommon for long distant relatives to get married for the sake of maintaining the nobility of the family. Kai’s parents were pushing for the marriage and neither Jennie Kim or nor her parents deny the potential marriage rumors.

“You still haven’t given up on chasing Jennie do you? Have you had no shame being the talk of the school chasing someone like Jennie thinking you have a chance?” Kai insulted her as soon as he and Lisa were alone.

 Kai on the others’ perspective was a definition of a perfect man. Just like Jennie, he came from a reputable family with expertise on several trading businesses. He was always 2nd to Jennie in terms of academic and possessed psychokinesis.  He was a very popular guy and sometimes he was being partnered with Jennie.

Lisa knew him when she was a child. She first met him when his family visited the Grand Duke’s estate where her mother and her used to serve the family. He did not like mingling with Lisa because she was a commoner. It was a fact known to everyone in the household and the Kai’s parents also voiced out this displeasure.

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