The city was quiet but busy in its usual mid-morning way.
She took the hover bus for ten minutes into town, then walked seven minutes up the road to her campus.
Once inside, she made a beeline for her open study homeroom on the third floor.
Sliding into the third row from the front, she plopped down behind a familiar figure: a tall dark and handsome young man with spikey purple-and-white hair and a single earring in his left ear.
And a hoop piercing through the middle part of his nose twitching as he wrote something down seriously lost in his own world.
Iseul opened her classwork and virtual journal notes—but then froze.
Her main holo-pad wasn't in her desk storage space.
Rolling her eyes, she lifted a long, slender leg and kicked out forcefully.
BANG!
"Ahh… oh shit! Dammit, Iseul?!" Miles yelled as he picked himself off the floor, glaring.
She smirked and leaned forward.
"Mm, serves you right. How many times do I have to tell you—don't steal my notes just to skip important lectures and run off with your spring flings?"
She snatched the holo-pad from his desk.
"Baby, please! Don't do me like this! I promise it won't happen again! Iseul, honey, mercy on this beautiful queen soul, please!"
Miles leaped over the seat, dramatically hugging her head to his chest.
"Oof."
Iseul stumbled, clutching his shoulders to steady herself as his tall frame pressed against her.
"Ehk!?"
Iseul arm flapping around in exasperation before patting his back with force in fake comfort.
Dammit miles! she cursed inwardly as she could barely breathe with him crushing her face.
Looking down at his little golden thigh and noticing she was changing colors mile realsed his grip significantly with a somewhat sheepish smile apologizing
"sorry I got excited in bit carried away i forgot my own strength."
At least he understand he has AA strength!
"Okay, okay! Fine—but this is the last time, alright?
We're about to graduate, and I can't take you flying across the stage too!
You need to make some effort for yourself, otherwise… how would you survive in the real world without me?"
she muttered, giving in after sucking in the air.
Miles laugh released iseul completely.
"Aha! Thanks, love. You're the best. Only you care for me. No one else. Sigh"
Miles wiped his crocodile tears away.
"Mhmm i know" nodded in agreement giving the note pad back.
Although iseul began to block out his words know his world awarding acting performance was to began.
Making her way back to her seat the moment her bottom touched the chair did miles show began.
"You're my golden thigh I must jump to… otherwise, how would I survive all twelve years of school?
By the graces of the stars, I made it to senior year."
He folded his arms across his chest and spoke with a smug expression.
Iseul shook her head at his antics as Miles was a very intelligent person who ranked top and almost everything except for putting in personal effort.
He was a completely salted lazy fish to the bone.
Even without the help of her notes all these years miles would still be able to score into the top 10 easily for the school.
Iseul personally wont say she's a top student, but she knew was definitely in A plus student.
"I honestly don't know what I'll do without you after graduation, but wherever you go, I shall follow.
Otherwise, how can I live without my partner in crime?"
He spun in a circle happily and went to hug iseul again but she slapped his hands away as he can't control his strength when he's to excited.
Iseul raised an eyebrow.
"Think about it your main point is that you wouldn't even be here today without me… or specifically, my notes saving your ass every single time you skip class,"
Iseul said, reclaiming her seat and opening her workbook.
"Bitch dont come for me!"Miles gasped out as his hand went up to his chest, in mock hurt though he playfully rolled his eyes at her.
"Me? Am I wrong for calling out your false coding?
She pointed to herself then him.
"Eh, forget it. It's not fun to tease my lesser-intellectual classmates anyway,"
Iseul added, waving him off and diving back into her advanced Taki'a language lessons—covering identification and common conversational exchanges.
Miles pouted but wisely chose to ignore her.
He returned to his seat, quietly flipping open his own copy of her notes, muttering under his breath, "Wasting no time, huh…"
Iseul smirked, already absorbed in her work.
The battle for notes may have been won, but the war for graduation glory—and survival in the bureaucratic world—was far from over.
Iseul sat back, letting her hands hover over the holo-pad as the teacher's voice droned through the open study homeroom.
The third-floor classroom was half-full, most students quietly plugging through their own work.
But her mind wasn't fully on class.
Loadon, the rogue mech, was still tucked safely in her apartment, but she couldn't shake the edge of worry.
Even with her new Creator signature underway, even with her registration forms submitted and priority delivery paid, she knew one slip-up in the city—or one careless bounty hunter—could spell disaster.
Her holo-pad lit up again.
A message from Hae-won popped on the screen:
Hae-won: Should i grab something to bring anything for dinner?
Iseul scoffed faintly and typed back quickly:
Iseul: mhm that alright if you want to. Just make sure the boys don't wander off if you beat me home.
She slipped the holo-pad back into her bag and opened her workbook.
Advanced Taki'a language terms sprawled across the virtual interface, highlighting verbs, syntax, and proper exchange phrases.
The teacher had laid out a timed exercise for identifying conversational cues—a simulation for diplomatic communications in tense scenarios.
Perfect practice for her own kind of tense scenario, she thought dryly.
The first fifteen minutes passed with Iseul fully immersed.
Her notes were flawless, her understanding precise.
But she kept glancing at the clock in the corner of her holo-screen, calculating exactly how long she had before she needed to leave to make it home in time for the dinner meetup.
Then a familiar sound punctured the classroom quiet: a chair scraping across the floor, followed by Miles' exaggerated sigh.
"You know," he muttered, leaning back in his seat dramatically,
"I really think my life is just a series of tragedies disguised as opportunities.
Like, why do I even bother coming to class when all the brilliance is right in front of me?"
Iseul rolled her eyes without looking up.
"Because without me, you'd fail every single test. Literally every single one.
Your spring flings won't babysit your grades, Miles."
He grinned, ignoring her jab.
"Yet you still tolerate me, your golden partner in crime. Truly, a saint among mortals."
She didn't respond, diving back into her coursework, but a faint smile tugged at her lips.
The next forty-five minutes passed in a blur of Taki'a exercises.
Iseul barely registered the teacher walking between desks, giving pointers, or the occasional interruption from chatty classmates.
Her mind was disciplined, her focus razor-sharp—she didn't have the luxury of slipping into daydreams when every second counted.
Finally, the bell rang, signaling the end of the period.
Students stretched, gathered their things, and spilled into the hallways.
"Lets grab something to eat before combat class im starving!"
Urged miles tossing iseul her note pad back as he dashed past her.
Iseul tucked her holo-pad tossed back by miles into her school bag, grabbed her jacket, and glanced at her class schedule.
13 mins until combat class started.
Perfect—enough time to get a quick snack at the campus cafeteria before heading to combat class.
"All right, but make sure you don't eat a crap bunch.
We have only have a few minutes until combat class."
Iseul called out to him as she jogged forward to catch up.
"No need to remind me today. I came extra prepared.
I brought digestion tablets so no need to worry Babygirl today.
Snack endeavor is on me today!"
Reaching the cafeteria, she grabbed a quick protein meal and a self heating -coffee.
Miles had his arms filled with food by the time she picked out her items and made her way to the checkout area where he was waiting to pay.
They sat down in a window seated area by the exit and chatted for a bit.
"Oh yeah I forgot to ask you! are you OK? I heard about what happened at the scrapyard and I know you normally go there to earn money." Miles brought up the subject. He had been waiting to ask since this morning when he saw her.
Iseul froze in the process of taking a bite of her food for a second but forced herself to act neutral. She side eyed Miles and saw the concern layered on his face.
"Hmm everything was all good. I wasn't anywhere near the crossfire." She gave a simple answer, not really wanting to hop into the conversation.
"Oh good. I was just hoping you were OK but seeing as you don't seem shaken up or anything you're obviously all right." Miles rocked in his seat chewing his food as he spoke with a hand over his mouth.
"What could possibly shake me up?" Iseul shot back with a pointed look. "Anyway hurry up and finish eating before I leave you"
She stood up and threw away her trash and the rappers of miles that he had piled in the middle of the table.
"hehe please little ancestor just let me off for today" he quickly swallowed the rest of his food in his mouth and rush to get up, grabbing the rest of his stuff.
Once thier snack was done, she and miles set off to combat building head right into the changing pods.