The Number One Thing to Avoid in School is Group Projects

I once loved the “School Life” genre.

Watching characters chase their youth and dreams within the confined space of a school made me feel happy myself. However, I never cared much for modern school stories. As a current high school student, I knew all too well how dry and soul-crushing a modern school really is. That’s why I strictly stuck to fantasy-style school novels.

The fantasy academies I read about were always bright and refreshing. Unlike students withered by their GPA, these characters felt like they were truly striving toward their dreams. Because of that, I used to think this dozens of times a day:

‘I want to be reincarnated into a fantasy world.’

But not anymore. I’d rather attend high school in the modern world dozens of times over than be reincarnated into a fantasy world. Why the change of heart after loving it so much? Because I’ve realized the truth.

Even in a fantasy world, school is a dry, soul-crushing place. I have lost so much in this world.

“Submit your lab reports by tomorrow.”

“Professor, we have a quiz tomorrow.”

“Quizzes and assignments are separate matters. Get it done.”

I used to be so timid, but now I find myself wanting to smack the back of my professor’s head regardless of his age.

“Rian. You have a group meeting today, where are you going?”

“Ah, sorry I didn’t mention it earlier. I actually have to head out today.”

“Really? I had a feeling you’d be heading out today.”

“Oh? How did you know?”

“Because I’m about to beat the dust out of you, and you’ll need to head to the temple for healing. Clench your teeth.”

My illusions about a first love were shattered during a group project.

“Ugh, library club is so exhausting. The seniors are on a total power trip. Should I just jump to a different club?”

“I heard the other special clubs are in total chaos right now too. Will you be okay?”

“It’s just a club activity, so why is everyone at each other’s throats? There’s no joy in living.”

“To be honest, I only have one joy left these days.”

I went to join a club and got caught in a faction war instead. Today, as usual, I drink a fatigue recovery potion with my childhood friend while debating the hardships of life.

Dreams and hopes of school life, my foot. Welcome to a school life full of power trips and assignments.

Bloody tears practically streamed from my eyes.

My name is Cecil Allegro. Currently, I am the sole heir to the Allegro family, but in the past, I was a South Korean high schooler who loved school-themed stories more than anything in the world. I was ordinary from head to toe—to a sigh-inducing degree—but if I had to pick one peculiarity, it was my obsession with the school life genre.

School Life. Creative works set in an educational institution.

Ever since I was little, it was my favorite genre. I watched and read everything: animations, novels, webtoons. Naturally, I developed a fantasy about school life.

I thought I’d make friends who would stay by my side no matter what, hold hands with a pretty partner, and study happily under a truly noble teacher. But reality was a gutter. I’d recite prayers every morning about how much I didn’t want to go to school.

Once I realized an ideal school life was impossible in reality, I began death-reading only fantasy school novels. It was out of a lingering hope that one could live happily in a fantasy world’s academy. And then… and then…

I died falling off the school roof.

I don’t clearly remember how it happened, but back then, I was prone to spacing out and had zero athletic ability, so it was definitely my own mistake. I probably lost my footing or tripped over something. At first, I was sad about being dead, but that only lasted a moment.

Kind and gentle parents, the comfort provided by a noble status, and interesting fields of study.

This place was the ideal world for me. And the year I turned seventeen, my happiness reached its peak. I was admitted to Owl Academy, known as the greatest academy on the continent. I thought I could finally become the protagonist of a school story filled with dreams and hope.

However, as always, reality was a gutter.

“Prince Kalif, shall I do your assignment for you? Please?”

“Your Highness, let’s do the group project together. We’re confident we’ll work really hard.”

To think it could be worse than a Korean high school—this is truly too much. I rested my chin on my hand, blankly watching the students pass by.

“Um, Cecil-sunbae.”

I turned my head. The junior standing before me flinched. They spoke cautiously.

“Someone is looking for you outside.”

“Right, thanks.”

I got up from my seat. As soon as I moved away, the juniors started whispering.

“Is that the senior?”

“Yeah. The one they called ‘Angel Cecil’ back in the first semester of freshman year.”

Just how hard must it have been for someone as timid and kind as me to punch my first love in the face during a group project? I clicked my tongue and opened the door.

“So what’s his nickname now?”

“The Crazy Maltese.”

Ah, thinking about that incident makes me angry all over again. I kicked a random pebble.

According to the rumors, that guy Rian is living a diligent life now, but if he ever tries to free-ride on a group project again, I’ll bite his uselessly smooth face off with my teeth.

Grinding my teeth, I headed toward a bench where a woman was sitting.

“Hello, Natasha-sunbae.”

The woman who had been sitting there staring blankly at the sky, Natasha Yuria, turned her head. Natasha-sunbae is two years older than me and is currently enrolled in the Athena Academy of Arts and Sciences.

“Why did you call for me?”

Natasha-sunbae pulled two bottles of fatigue recovery potions from her robe.

“Just wanted to have a drink with my cute junior.”

“Is that so?”

For reference, the Athena Academy is a place where only students hand-picked by professors from Owl Academy can go to pursue higher-level studies or research. Should I think of it like a grad school from my old world? Suddenly curious, I asked her.

“Sunbae, what kind of place is the Athena Academy?”

She replied with a still-vacant expression.

“A place where, if they tell you to go catch a wyvern, you have to go catch a wyvern.”

“…A wyvern?” I snapped my head toward her at the mention of a Rank-A danger monster.

“…Sunbae, you’re in the General Studies department like us, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

I asked, feeling a sense of dread.

“They don’t actually tell General Studies students to catch wyverns, do they?”

“Yeah. They don’t actually do that.”

I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Thank goodness. For a second, I thought you were serious.”

Sunbae took out a pipe and replied.

“Three years ago, a professor gave a wyvern observation assignment and nearly wiped out all of his students. Since then, they don’t even say the word ‘wyvern.’ That’s why we even pronounce ‘waffles’ as ‘affles’ in front of the professor.”

“Ah, I see. Certainly, if something like that happened…”

I was nodding along reflexively before I whipped around to look at her again.

“Wait, what did you say?”

Sunbae lit her pipe and said, “Don’t ever come to the Athena Academy.”

“…”

I had no choice but to nod at that advice, which was carved from blood and bone.

“How about you these days? Is school life bearable?”

I answered immediately. “No.”

“Sorry, I asked the obvious. I guess the library club is still noisy.”

“Right now, I’m like a shrimp with a broken back caught in a fight between whales.”

I let out a sigh deep enough to collapse the ground.

“Sigh, if you don’t have money or a background, you might as well just die.”

“Agreed.”

Clink. We lightly toasted our potion bottles. Natasha-sunbae moved her pipe to her other hand and downed the potion in one go.

“But, Natasha-sunbae.”

“Yeah?”

“I’m eighteen now and a sophomore. My juniors in the special club keep asking me things. How should I answer them?”

Natasha-sunbae spoke with a face weary from hardship.

“Answer them with absolute realism.”

“Shouldn’t I protect their illusions just a little bit?”

“Don’t make me laugh. I protected those illusions so well for three years that I ended up in the Athena Academy.”

Just what kind of place is that Academy if three years of precious illusions were destroyed in just a few months?

Regardless, thanks to Natasha-sunbae’s vivid advice, I knew I had to be brutally realistic with the juniors. It would be a disaster if I protected their fantasies only for them to end up in the Athena Academy like her.

“Well, I’m off then.”

“Yes, Natasha-sunbae. Get back safely.”

Natasha-sunbae tottered back toward the Academy like an undead. As I was seeing her off, someone called my name.

“Oh, Cecil-sunbae is over there.”

“Cecil-sunbae!”

I turned my head. Talk of the devil—it was Ena Irene and Claire Lou, juniors from the Library Special Club. They approached me holding syllabi.

“Hello, Cecil-sunbae. Do you have a moment?”

“What’s up?”

“Well, we were looking at Professor Oliver’s syllabus and saw there’s a group project. When we asked other seniors how to handle group projects, every single one of them told us to ask you.”

“Do they really have to ask that? Do they not know the rumor about me hitting Rian in the face when I was a freshman?”

“That’s exactly why. We figured if we asked you, we’d only hear about how to beat up our teammates.”

“…”

Claire and Ena were the only juniors in the Library Club who weren’t afraid of me. Because of that, they tended to speak without any filter. Ena asked:

“But since we’ve run into you, we’ll ask anyway. How do we actually handle a group project, Sunbae?”

“First, sit down here.”

Claire and Ena sat on the bench. I held up three fingers.

“You two only need to remember three things.”

“What are they?”

“First, never join a group with high-ranking nobles.”

Their eyes went wide.

“Why? People say the only advantage of a group project is getting to know high-ranking people.”

“Exactly. They say group classes are like the academy’s social circle.”

“There’s even a story about a senior who did a group project with a princess from a neighboring kingdom, fell in love, and got married. Isn’t it literally a chance to change your life?”

I scoffed.

“Fall in love? You’ll be lucky if you don’t fall into a coma.”

“Coming from you, Sunbae, that really hits home.”

“Sure, I’m not saying those cases don’t exist at all. But those things happen maybe once every hundred years.”

However, the two of them remained stubborn.