Chapter 180: Slime School.

Staring at the smartphone that didn’t receive a reply, I pondered for a moment.

Was I too hasty?

But there’s a promise we made back then. If I spit out all the curses, we’ll meet, and Makina would certainly expect that.

The feeling when something expected happens in reality is different from just expecting it.

No matter what, that’s still the case.

This is the first time she’s unilaterally cut off contact like this.

[Makina: I’m a coward.]

Since I suggested meeting, it seems like Makina got scared and ran away.

Why on earth is that?

Because I’m a slime?

The stalker who’s been watching me all this time wouldn’t run away just because I’m a slime now.

Maybe Makina doesn’t have the confidence to show me her true self.

It’s common for people to show different appearances online and in reality.

There are people who are amazing online but think of themselves as pathetic in real life.

Is she worried that I might be disappointed if I see her in person?

If that’s what she’s thinking, that would be even more disappointing.

It makes me think she doesn’t trust me that much.

My precious friend Makina, no matter what she looks like, there’s no way I’d be disappointed.

What makes me so great that I’d be disappointed?

Whatever it is, it won’t be more shocking than a slime.

The next contact day is December 19th.

Let’s talk again then.

***

Choi Hyun-su, who escaped bullying thanks to <Scarecrow Slime> and the connected Yeonseul.

He entered <Terminal Slime> with a heart that felt like it would burst.

“If you’re considering transferring, how about trying experiential admission at my school?”

It was Ji-hwan who had to leave the school he was attending, not Hyun-su.

In fact, Ji-hwan was also in a situation where he would transfer to another school.

But the school Hyun-su had been attending was a space full of people who knew about his suffering but continued to ignore it.

No matter who approached and said what, it was unlikely that trust would easily form.

It felt like a place where he couldn’t shake off the sense of not fitting in.

So, Hyun-su decided to temporarily transfer to the Slime School created by Alchemy Slime.

Using <Terminal Slime>, he could commute easily, and there was no need to buy a uniform since <Clothes Slime> was provided, so the decision didn’t come with a big burden.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Choi Sun-mi, who will be your homeroom teacher from now on.”

A teacher who looked kind welcomed Hyun-su.

“I heard that the education system here is quite different from Korean schools, right?”

Hyun-su nodded.

First of all, it didn’t feel like a normal school just from the outward appearance.

“Even if it’s hard to adapt at first, once you get used to it, it will definitely be a better environment.”

Even after hearing that, Hyun-su’s fear didn’t decrease.

“Don’t worry too much. All the kids here are good.”

Hyun-su didn’t believe that.

Teachers always say the students are good kids.

But in reality, it’s not like that.

Still, since it’s a school made by Alchemy Slime, maybe it’s a bit different.

With that expectation, Hyun-su was able to come here.

The teacher led the way, and Hyun-su followed behind.

After walking for a short while, the two arrived at the classroom.

Hyun-su was a bit surprised to see that there were only a few students in the class.

He’d heard that the number of students in Korea is decreasing, but here it was even fewer.

Less than 10.

There were other classrooms on the way, so it was surprising that they were operating classes with such a small number.

The students’ clothes were all different.

They were all based on the uniform, but they had been modified so much that they looked like completely different outfits.

The extent of the modifications was also extreme. Some had even made theirs like dresses.

There were students with ears on their heads, tails on their waists, and gloves on their hands that looked like animal claws.

It felt like he had passed through <Terminal Slime> and fallen into another world instead of Earth.

As the teacher entered, the children stopped chattering and sat down immediately.

Seeing that orderly sight, Hyun-su felt a little relieved.

“Everyone, today a new friend from Korea has come.”

The homeroom teacher wrote Hyun-su’s name on the <Display Slime> instead of a blackboard.

“His name is Choi Hyun-su, and he’s not an Awakened. He’s not transferring permanently; he’ll be with us for a while.”

At those words, the student with animal claws on their hands raised their hand high.

“Is it possible for him to stay with us permanently?”

“That depends on what experiences Hyun-su has and what impressions he has of our school?”

At that, the students nodded vigorously.

After looking around at everyone, the homeroom teacher looked at Hyun-su.

“Do you have anything you’d like to say to everyone?”

Hyun-su couldn’t answer.

He wasn’t used to speaking in a place like this.

Because of past experiences, words wouldn’t come out of his mouth.

“I guess you don’t have anything to say.”

The teacher guided Hyun-su to an empty seat.

“From now on, sit here.”

After saying that, she turned around.

“Class president?”

“Yes!”

“Take good care of Hyun-su.”

“Yes!”

The teacher pointed to the student she had spoken to and said to Hyun-su.

“That student over there is the class president, Leo, so ask him if you have any questions.”

Hyun-su slowly nodded.

But he wasn’t sure if he could really talk to him.

Leo was a student who gave off a quite rough vibe, and Hyun-su didn’t have the confidence to get along with someone like that.

“Class president, don’t make the struggle for position too intense.”

“Ah, come on, teacher. Does that even make sense?”

“What if Hyun-su gets scared? Wouldn’t that be worse?”

“You’re right about that.”

Hyun-su couldn’t fully understand the exchange that was going on.

“I hope you have a good time here. I’ll do my best to make sure that happens.”

Leaving those words, the teacher left the classroom.

As soon as the teacher left, the whole class swarmed around Hyun-su.

“Korea! From Alchemy Slime-nim’s company!”

“Huh? Uh?”

“Are you good at studying?”

“Uh, uh….”

“What’s your best subject?”

“Math….”

At that moment, the children’s eyes changed.

“As expected, Korea! I heard that there are math ghosts living there!”

“Join our team!”

“No, our team!”

“Everyone stop! Hyun-su is joining our team!”

A student wearing beast gloves pushed the other students aside and said.

“Ah….”

“What….”

“Wait a minute. You guys. What’s with that reaction.”

“Yeah. Hyeon-su should join Leo’s team.”

“If there’s Leo’s team, it’s honestly against our conscience to take him.”

“Hey! What do you mean by that!”

“Leo’s going wild!”

“Run!”

Leo chased the students for a while, and in that meantime, a slightly chubby student approached Hyun-su.

The student smiled gently and extended his hand to Hyun-su.

“Hello? I’m Oliver. Let’s get along from now on.”

“Huh? Uh….”

Hyun-su absentmindedly took his hand and shook it.

Oliver’s hand was quite hard and trained, unlike his soft impression.

“You don’t understand the situation right now, right? I’ll explain it to you.”

Oliver explained about the teams that everyone was talking about.

After school, there’s a playground where students mainly go, and to get good scores there, you need both students who are good at sports and those good at studying. Also, since breathing has to match well, they mostly act in teams.

“Our team is me, Leo, and one more person who’s in a different class, so I’ll introduce them later.”

By the end of the explanation, Leo came back to Hyun-su’s side, panting.

“I’m Leo AlchemySlime. Let’s get along from now on.”

“AlchemySlime?”

“For reference, I’m also an AlchemySlime.”

Oliver said as well.

“There are a few more besides us.”

Hyun-su fell into confusion.

“Isn’t that a company name?”

“It’s the company name, and it’s also a surname we were allowed to use.”

Hyun-su realized there were complicated circumstances he couldn’t easily talk about.

“Personally, SlimeChild or PengLimeChild would have been better though.”

“They said that’s absolutely not, right? Just give up.”

Leo and Oliver bickered lightly.

In their behavior, there was no shadow-like feeling.

“Ah, this isn’t the time. Have you decided on the teacher?”

“Uh…. I don’t know well, so I just went with the usual….”

Slime Land’s education system was similar to regular schools but different.

Like elementary, middle, and high schools, the timetable was set.

Instead, you could choose whether to learn from human teachers or Slime teachers.

Human teachers taught multiple students at once, like in regular schools.

Slime teachers did individual tutoring.

What Hyun-su chose was the human teacher side.

“I’ll explain it to you.”

When Oliver tapped Hyun-su’s desk, its surface changed like a computer drawing board.

“What human teachers teach feels like this.”

Oliver drew a straight line there.

“It’s a standard class taught according to the fixed curriculum.”

“It’s boring.”

“It might feel boring because it’s too easy, or you might have to listen to content you’re not interested in, or it might be too hard to follow. Of course, there are advantages. The content to learn is relatively small, and there are good points from taking classes with everyone. Like a sense of belonging, or unity. Well, that sort of thing increases more.”

Hyun-su didn’t understand those words.

Because he had never felt that while taking classes at school.

“On the other hand, Slime teachers’ classes feel like this.”

Oliver colored a dense wave pattern along the line he drew.

“It’s a method where Slime teachers decide what to teach tailored to the individual.”

“It’s intense.”

“It’s a class that deeply explores the parts students are interested in and connects that to the curriculum content to teach all at once. You might have learned clearly different content, but when you talk to students who learned from human teachers, they’ve already learned it or will learn it later. It’s fun, but the learning volume is large, so it’s tough.”

Hyun-su couldn’t understand this explanation well either.

Classes being fun.

“Which one suits better depends on the person, so keep this in mind when choosing. Personally, for subjects with a lot of room for discussion, I recommend human teachers, and for subjects with a lot of individual study content, Slime teachers.”

“Th-thank you.”

“It’s only natural to tell you this. We’ll be together from now on.”

“Uh….”

Hyun-su wondered if he should say that he came on a temporary transfer.

“Even if you stay at this school for just a few days, you won’t want to leave.”

Oliver said confidently.

“That’s right. It’s a place made by my dad, so how could it lose to other schools?”

Leo agreed with that.

Hyun-su thought for a moment.

He chose the human teacher as usual, but since the class progress was definitely different, he kept worrying.

“Can I change this right now?”

“Yeah. You can change it freely anytime.”

“But trying to avoid homework by changing won’t work.”

“Leo. You’re the only one who thinks that.”

“No, right? Everyone does.”

In the end, Hyun-su changed the teacher.

And soon, he found out.

What an interesting class really is.

***

The children’s adaptability is amazing.

Even though the school has been open for less than a semester, they give off an atmosphere like they’ve been attending for about 3 years.

And that’s from kids who have no experience of properly attending school.

That must mean they’ve put in that much effort.

Both Leo and Oliver are kids that Hans rescued from a cult.

On the family register, they’re children of AlchemySlime.

Not me, who is my parents’ child, but children of AlchemySlime.

On Gongsooni Island, I’m essentially like a king.

So, I granted myself the status of AlchemySlime.

For those kids, it’s better to be children of AlchemySlime than children of some unknown person they’ve never heard of or seen. Later, if my identity is revealed and their minds change, it’s easier to handle the paperwork too.

Currently, those kids’ nationality is not Korea, but Gongsooni Island.

We haven’t even declared independence, and it’s not recognized as a country, so does this nationality mean anything in other countries?

It works wherever <Terminal Slime> is.

AlchemySlime is only 1 year old, but how many kids in their teens are there?

There’s more than enough ability to support them, so that’s not a problem.

And those kids are my children on the family register, but they don’t seem to really see me as their parent.

They see it as something mixed with friend, guardian, benefactor.

So, it doesn’t seem like they’re asking for parental love from me.

The surname AlchemySlime wasn’t given by me; they chose it themselves.

Rather, I was the one who received the name.

Thanks to that, I ended up with a name full of Slime: ‘Alchemy Slime AlchemySlime’.

What a strange relationship.

Not all children received this surname.

Even those who became my adopted children continue to use their existing surnames.

There are also children who completely refused to become my adopted children.

Like Veronica.

Well, I wouldn’t want to become a one-year-old Slime’s child either.

After establishing Slime School on Gongsooni Island, I sent the children I was protecting in Slime Land.

Among the sent children, there are those who used Slime Land as school, those rescued from the doomsday cult, and those secured afterward.

I was worried if they could adapt safely, but fortunately, they showed they were adapting well.

They’re also showing they’re helping others adapt safely.

The number of students is gradually increasing.

As <Terminal Slime> tunnels open in various parts of the world, parents with Awakened children are increasingly saying they want to send their kids to Slime School.

Even parents without Awakened children want to send their kids to Slime School quite a lot.

We’re accepting all Awakened, but ordinary people are still being accepted only limitedly.

We’re experimentally bringing in only kids like Hyunsu who have difficulty going anywhere.

In the future, Slime School will be a place where Awakened and ordinary people learn together.

At that time, if the ratio of Awakened to ordinary people becomes extremely imbalanced, it’s not good.

So, we have no choice but to limit the ordinary students who can come to Slime School.

We’ll gradually increase it while watching the situation.

Various problems will arise in that process.

By solving those problems, the school will develop more and more.

I hope it becomes a good school.

***

“Is this a school! Is it a school! Let this school go bankrupt!”

A scream echoed from a corner of Gongsooni Island.

The wall dividing below university and above university neatly blocked that voice.