It’s an Academic Fact That Rankers Are Model Students – Chapter 28

Chapter 28: As Expected, Educated People Are Different (2)

Korean, English, Math, Science.

Morals, Technology & Home Economics, Korean History, Art.

He finished reading all the main and non-main subjects five times.

Practice questions and advanced questions in each reference book?

Now, just by looking at the first letter of the problem, he could remember what number the answer was and what it was.

The moment he saw the problem, not only the answer but also the solution process flashed before his eyes like a kaleidoscope.

And you’re still telling me to study more?

Of course, Teemo’s answer was very concise and certain.

<Yes, as you know, you have to study for exams even if you know it. Rather, that’s when you have to be humble and look again with a new mind.>

“Ugh, that’s totally right. I can’t argue with that.”

Teemo was right.

The most dangerous time was when you thought you knew everything.

In fact, looking at the wrong problems in his tattered reference books now, there were more cases where he made mistakes or was careless even though he knew the answer than he didn’t know.

It was time to pull himself together and review everything again with the thought of seeing it anew, as Teemo said.

“But still, it’s a bit much to keep looking at the same thing for the next week.”

Kyung-joon thought that repeating the review, which he had already done enough of, for another week was a waste of time.

It’s enough to review what you’ve already seen three days before the exam.

Rather, he wanted to study something new now.

“I’ve solved all the concept books and workbooks in the library…… If I want to get a new reference book somewhere, hmm…… I have to log out.”

Kyung-joon was thinking of studying outside for the remaining week.

The library in the starting village only had reference books he had already seen.

He had to go out into the market and buy and read reference books from publishers other than Seolha Publishing.

“It’s a bit disappointing to study outside because there’s no Dimensional Study Room and no study buff…… Well, it can’t be helped.”

<⊙.⊙!>

<Master, if that’s what you want, how about this?>

“Huh?”

Teemo hastily suggested at Kyung-joon’s words that he would log out.

<Why don’t you try making new questions that aren’t in the reference books yourself?>

“Make the questions myself?”

<As the saying goes, when you learn, you should think about when you teach. And at the heart of that thought is making up a problem.>

“Hmm, hmm.”

<Things that you didn’t think of before, or just passed over easily, will come to you in a whole new light.>

Not solving the problem, but making it yourself!

It’s one of the methods that many study masters often use.

You don’t have to think hard about it.

Don’t people who study often say this?

『Hey, hey, I think this kind of problem will be on the exam.』

『Huh? If you make a problem out of this, it’ll be a huge hit, right?』

Guessing the expected exam questions!

This act can also be considered a part of making a problem.

“That sounds like a good idea. But I’ve never done anything like that before. Is it okay?”

<Don’t worry. I’ll do my best to help you.>

“Okay. Then I’ll trust you and try it? Math first!”

Kyung-joon immediately took out his math book and opened the very first page of the final exam range.

“Hmm, the last part of the trigonometric function unit. If I were to give you a problem here, what would it be……. “

<Isn’t there a little bit of calculus included in this final exam range? How about linking it to that?>

“Calculus of trigonometric functions? We did cover that a little bit in class, but is there anything to apply there?”

<I don’t know, but what part of the trigonometric function do your friends have trouble with?>

“Well…… Ah!”

Kyung-joon said to Teemo as if he had remembered something.

“Inverse function! Before, during the midterm exam, there was an application problem related to the inverse function of trigonometric functions, and all the kids, including me, got it wrong. I have a feeling this will come out again, right? You know, mixing the inverse function of trigonometric functions with calculus!”

<Oh, that’s quite possible.>

“Wow~ This is definitely going to be a 5% correct answer on the test, for real. So first, let’s write the inverse function of sine like this, and to differentiate this…… Hmm…….”

Thus, Kyung-joon and Teemo were busy making and solving problems with each other.

7 days left until the finals.

How far will Kyung-joon be able to climb this time?

The time for change was not far away.

🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷

While Kyung-joon was busy studying for his finals.

The World’s Greatest Merchant, who runs The World Number One Player ‘World’s Best’, was frowning.

“Why aren’t they approving the bid?”

Auction starting price 940,000 liyan ‘Deep Mana Infused Soft Bread’.

The World’s Greatest Merchant had been bidding on this bread every time it came up for auction.

But whether he bid 950,000 or 1,240,000, his bid was never approved.

[『Deep Mana Infused Soft Bread』 has been bid on for 1,370,000 liyan.]

[Bid rejected.]

[Auction closed.]

[You have mail.]

▶Contents: 1,370,000 liyan

“What the hell is going on?”

The World’s Greatest Merchant received the 1,370,000 liyan that had been returned to him after his bid was rejected and put it in his inventory.

He couldn’t understand it.

How much did they want to sell it for?

1,370,000 liyan was 50% higher than the starting bid of 940,000 liyan.

Yet, not once had a bid been successful.

Even if other players bid higher, they would only be rejected.

“I’ll have to write it down for now.”

The World’s Greatest Merchant wrote down the numbers in his notepad.

1,240,000, 1,370,000, 1,280,000, 1,490,000, 1,180,000…….

These were the highest bids he had seen on the bread so far.

“Is there some kind of pattern?”

The World’s Greatest Merchant stared intently at the numbers.

The World’s Greatest Merchant, who graduated from Seoul National University’s Department of Business Administration.

Although he wasn’t a science major, he had some knowledge of mathematics.

At least enough to recognize if there was some sort of pattern in the listed numbers.

But no matter how much he looked at it, there seemed to be no pattern.

“Is he just rejecting bids without thinking? ……Wait, is this some kind of noise marketing strategy?”

Noise marketing.

A marketing technique that deliberately creates an issue to generate buzz and attract consumer attention.

In other words, it’s a strategy to intentionally attract attention and make people remember the product.

This bread maker’s actions were exactly like that.

He puts up an item he’s never seen before on the auction house and keeps rejecting bids no matter what price they come in at.

If this keeps up, word is bound to get around, at least among the rankers.

Of course, if the buyout price wasn’t something ridiculous like 999,999,999, he would have bought it right away and shut his mouth.

Because this kind of honey item should only be known to him.

But no matter how much money you throw at it, you can’t buy it?

Since you can’t buy it anyway, you’ll start complaining to the community or your acquaintances.

That way, the existence of the product will naturally spread among people, and the product will be promoted without lifting a finger.

“This guy…… Did he study business somewhere? What school did he go to?”

Seoul National University? Yonsei University? Korea University?

If so, maybe he could use his business school connections to find out?

It was impossible.

There were countless universities in Korea with business administration departments besides SKY.

No matter how wide his network was, it was impossible to find out who this bread maker was with the current information.

The World’s Greatest Merchant scratched his head with his pen and turned the auction house back on.

“It’s up again.”

Once again, Deep Mana Infused Soft Bread was up for auction.

The bidding had already begun, as if he wasn’t the only one who had been waiting.

Starting at 940,000, it went up to 950,000, 980,000, 1,050,000, 1,130,000, 1,170,000…….

The price went up non-stop.

[『Would you like to bid 1,000,000 liyan on Deep Mana Infused Soft Bread』?]

[Yes / No]

※Caution! This is 10 times the starting bid.

[Bid placed.]

“Let’s see if he’ll reject it at this price……”

He had a feeling this bread maker would reject it even if a bid of 1,000,000 liyan came in.

But that was a big mistake.

[『Deep Mana Infused Soft Bread』 has been sold for 1,000,000 liyan.]

[Thank you for using the Player Auction House. We hope you will continue to use it in the future.]

“Huh……?”

1,000,000 liyan disappeared from his inventory in an instant, and a loaf of bread arrived in his mailbox.

So much for thinking this bread maker would reject it.

He had just become a whale.

No matter how good a unique consumable item it was, this price was ridiculous.

A sucker who paid 1,000,000 liyan for a loaf of bread.

It was the moment when 100,000 won in cash flew away.

“I’m going crazy.”

The World’s Greatest Merchant, who had been thinking about creating whales while doing business in various games, had become a whale himself for the first time in a long time!

He pulled himself together and looked at the auction house again.

The same loaf of bread was up for auction.

“Wait, there’s more than one?”

Unlike before, 50 loaves were up for auction at once!

The starting bid had also changed.

118,000 liyan.

The original starting bid of 940,000 had been raised to 118,000.

The buyout price had also been updated.

Instead of a ridiculous price like 999,999,999, it was set at a price that a whale would buy it for immediately.

▶Starting bid: 118,000 liyan

▶Buyout price: 1,000,000 liyan

“Wait a minute…….”

118,000 and 1,000,000.

Seeing these two numbers, The World’s Greatest Merchant began to look over the highest bids he had written down.

The brain of a top 0.1% liberal arts student in Korea, who graduated second in his class from the Department of Business Administration at Seoul National University, began to work furiously.

It wasn’t long before he found a clue to the current situation.

“118,000 is the minimum bid! The lowest highest bid I’ve seen so far was 118,000! And the 1,000,000 I just bid is the maximum……!”

The World’s Greatest Merchant didn’t stop analyzing.

If there is a minimum and a maximum?

What’s the next number?

Quite naturally, it’s the average.

“The average is 1,320,000 liyan! Don’t tell me, this is……!”

The World’s Greatest Merchant immediately bid 1,310,000 liyan for 5 loaves of bread.

Then, using the Player Auction House’s rush system, he repeatedly sent messages saying he wanted to buy it right now.

However, the reply that came back was…….

[Bid rejected.]

[You have mail.]

▶Contents: 6,550,000 liyan

The World’s Greatest Merchant, upon seeing that his bid was rejected, placed another bid.

At the average he had just calculated, 1,320,000 liyan.

And he waited for the auction to end.

Fortunately, he was the only one who had bid the highest price of 1,320,000 in this auction.

Under normal circumstances, the bid would have been rejected.

But then, a window popped up before his eyes, making his eyes widen.

[『5 Deep Mana Infused Soft Bread have been sold for 6,600,000 liyan.]

[Thank you for using the Player Auction House. We hope you will continue to use it in the future.]

“As expected……! This guy, he’s not messing around!”

All this time, he had been putting up only one loaf of bread for auction and rejecting bids to gauge the market price.

At the same time, he was also getting some noise marketing effects.

He wasn’t sure, but the information about this bread must have spread among those in the know.

What was even more surprising was that the process of determining the market price and conducting the auction was very systematic and mathematical.

He set the lowest bid he had received for the bread as the starting bid and the highest bid as the buyout price.

And he rejected all bids below the average.

This way, he could prevent people from colluding to manipulate the auction price to some extent.

“Ordinary people, no, uneducated people, would never be able to come up with this kind of idea……!”

Mean, maximum, and minimum.

These are simple statistical concepts that everyone learns in math class.

However, ordinary people just nod their heads and don’t go as far as to ‘utilize’ them.

But this bread maker was different.

He sublimated even a simple concept that everyone knew into something valuable.

It’s a simple concept, but that’s why it’s so effective.

In fact, the number of loaves of bread listed on the auction house has been steadily decreasing.

It’s not selling like hotcakes to the point where it’ll be sold out in minutes.

But it’s not like it’s not selling at all either.

Every time he refreshes the page, one or two more loaves are gone.

Neither more nor less, it’s a phenomenon that commonly occurs with products that are sold at exactly the right price.

It’s a very successful promotion for the first sale of a product.

“As expected, educated people are different……! I’m going to bring this bread maker to our guild no matter what!”

Until now, The World’s Greatest Merchant had only been interested in Kyung-joon because of the bread’s ability.

Now, he had become extremely interested in Kyung-joon himself.

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