It’s an Academic Fact That Rankers Are Model Students – Chapter 1

Prologue: It’s an Academic Fact That Rankers Are Model Students

This is a press conference.

A male student is surrounded by numerous reporters.

A name tag and school mark are visible on the left side of the student’s chest.

『Cheongshin High School』

『Lee Kyung-joon』

Flash! Flash! Flash!

Camera shutters went off endlessly.

At the same time, questions from reporters poured out.

“Student Kyung-joon! How do you feel about ranking first in the nation on the CSAT?”

“I heard it was the most difficult CSAT ever, what’s your secret?”

“Is it true that you were accepted to all seven early admissions, including Seoul National University, KAIST, and POSTECH?”

“Which university are you planning to go to?”

“Question 30 in the math subjective section, which recorded the lowest correct answer rate of 0.02% since the 1997 CSAT! How on earth did you solve it?”

Kyung-joon, slightly embarrassed by the reporters’ questions, said,

“Uh… well. There are too many questions. I guess you could sum it up as ‘What’s your secret to studying?’”

“Yes!!”

“Ahem.”

Kyung-joon cleared his throat and soon revealed his secret to studying.

“It’s simple. Focus on Korean, English, and Math…”

“Ah.”

Disappointment flashed across the reporters’ faces.

“I focused on Korean, English, and Math,” is what all good students always say.

They thought this year’s top scorer would say the same thing.

But they were wrong.

“……I didn’t focus on Korean, English, and Math, but on exploration subjects, meaning Science Exploration and Social Studies Exploration.”

“What?!”

All the reporters were dumbfounded!

They’d heard of studying hard in all subjects, but focusing on exploration subjects?

This was a statement they’d never heard before.

At that moment, a sharp reporter asked,

“Excuse me… Student Kyung-joon, you’re clearly going to major in science, so why Social Studies Exploration?”

Kyung-joon grinned as if he had been waiting for that question.

“It’s simple. If you study science in depth, you automatically study math as well. The two are very closely related. Especially physics. Not only physics, but also chemistry, biology, earth science, and even liberal arts subjects like Ethics, Korean Ethics, Korean Geography, World History, Law and Politics, Economics… If you study everything without being picky, you’ll end up ‘knowing’ all the passages that appear in Korean and English. In other words, no matter what problems come out in Korean, English, and Math, they all become problems you already know.”

Kyung-joon continued.

“Don’t adults always say to read a lot of books? And successful people say they’ve read a lot of books. It’s the same thing. Oh, except for web novels. Except for web novels where the main character studies.”

“Hahaha!”

The reporters burst into laughter at Kyung-joon’s lighthearted joke.

“So, you’re saying that Korean, English, and Math aren’t that important?”

“No. Of course Korean, English, and Math are important. But focusing only on them isn’t very efficient. Honestly, even if you neglect Korean, English, and Math a little, your scores won’t drop much, but exploration subjects will plummet. Once you’ve built a foundation in Korean, English, and Math, you need to focus on exploration subjects. Anyway, from the second grade onwards, it’s a battle of concentration, so studying exploration subjects also has the effect of raising your Korean, English, and Math scores.”

“Ohhh!”

Unlike other top scorers, these were very specific and helpful tips!

Flash! Flash! Flash!

Flashes went off again, accompanied by the reporters’ enthusiasm.

“So, is that how you solved question 30 in the math section?”

“Ah, that question 30. Yes. I got inspiration for that too. While studying something else.”

“What subject were you studying when you got the inspiration? Physics? Chemistry? Or economics? Or something completely different?”

“Ah, can I even say this?”

Kyung-joon scratched the back of his head as if embarrassed.

And then…

“Well… Have you ever tried ‘The World,’ reporters?”

“Yes? The World?”

The reporter was flustered by the sudden change of topic.

“Yes, yes, The World. So, have you ever tried it?”

“Well… I don’t think there’s anyone who hasn’t.”

“Good. Then what about the reporter next to you?”

“M, Me?”

And so it went, to the reporter next to him, the one next to him, and the one next to him…

Kyung-joon kept asking the same question to every reporter he saw.

“Okay. Nine out of ten of you have tried it. As expected of the world’s best virtual reality game created by Seolha Group.”

Just as everyone’s bewilderment reached its peak, Kyung-joon threw another question.

“Then has anyone here ever caught the Black Dragon, the boss monster in the basement of the Ruined Temple?”

This time, Kyung-joon didn’t wait for an answer.

“Of course not. Its elemental resistances are all high, and while its light resistance is low, its skin is so thick that priest classes, which lack damage, can’t actually catch it, and the black laser it shoots from its eyes has insane damage over time, so you can’t catch it without a healer. And on top of that, it forces a solo raid… How could you possibly catch it?”

“Huh? But I heard that the Black Dragon was successfully raided a few months ago…?”

“We had a huge article about it too.”

“Did you interview whoever caught it?”

“No, we just heard about it.”

The reporters murmured amongst themselves.

Meanwhile, Kyung-joon just smiled brightly without saying a word.

Then, the sharp reporter from before realized something.

“C, C, Could it be…… the person who caught the Black Dragon…”

“Yes. The first person to catch the Black Dragon was me.”

“……!!”

The reporters were speechless at the shocking confession.

Furthermore, Kyung-joon gave a wry smile and continued his story.

“Actually, I didn’t catch the Black Dragon with any other intention than to just clear a quest and refresh myself since I wasn’t making any progress on my studies and was feeling down. Anyway, after defeating the Black Dragon, I took a look at the dropped items, and what do you know!”

Kyung-joon clapped his hands together.

And in an excited voice…

“The phase structure of the dropped Black Dragon Heart really hit me with something I hadn’t thought of before! Wow, I thought this was really something, so I researched it and made some items, and then a few months later, it appears as question 30 in the CSAT math section?”

Kyung-joon calmed his excitement for a moment and continued.

“It was simple after that. I just solved the problem while recalling the memories of researching and crafting items back then. For your information, that was the easiest question out of the 30.”

A deep silence fell.

And before long…

“Waaa!”

It soon turned into applause.

Kyung-joon raised his arms as if to embrace the world, expressing his gratitude to everyone who had listened to his story so far.

And he did it in six languages!

“Thank you. Merci. Xièxiè. ありがとう. شكرا لك. 감사합니다.”

After his extraordinary press conference……

Numerous best-selling books began to be published.

『Getting to Know The World Better』

『How to Study Better in The World』

『Play games like Kyung-joon, and study like Lee Kyung-joon』

『Beyond Lee Kyung-joon』

『Gaming was the easiest』

Later on the internet, people coined a new slang word after seeing Kyung-joon.

『It’s an academic fact that rankers are model students.』

Translator’s Blog

Blog

• The “I’m So Deep in This Light Novel I’m Living It” Blues: When Your Waifu Gets NTR’d and You’re Not Even Mad (But Kind of Are)
• Scrolling Through Reddit: “I’m an English man travelling India. Fancied some British food and ordered fish and chips… wow, what a sight this was”
• Trucks, Isekai, and the Struggle for a Good Image: When Anime Hurts the Real World
• Do Your Gym Bros Think You’re a Weirdo? (Secret Signs You’re the Gym Oddball)
• Kimonos, Cosplay, and Cultural Cancels: Nezuko’s Demon Slayer Saga in China