"Unexpected! Yes, yes, Highland High has always had simple and honest traditions. What happens in Gotham society has nothing to do with our campus… yes, exactly…"
The fat teacher slowly hung up the phone and turned around with a wide smile.
Lucas and Emily sat across from him in the office.
"What happened today was a complete accident," the teacher said warmly. "Students, I'm very happy that both of you chose to enroll at Highland High."
Emily blinked in confusion.
She had entered the office expecting punishment or at least a serious reprimand. Instead, the teacher seemed strangely cheerful, even enthusiastic.
The two of them left the office shortly afterward.
The moment the door closed behind them, Emily let out a long breath.
"Whew! I seriously thought we were going to get expelled on our first day!"
She patted her chest with lingering fear before looking at Lucas.
But instead of blaming him for the fight earlier, a small hint of pride actually showed in her expression.
Lucas shrugged slightly.
"This is Gotham," he said calmly. "If the city's society is this chaotic, how could the school system be much better?"
"Ha! I knew you'd be fine!"
Dam rushed over excitedly from the hallway where he had been waiting anxiously.
"As long as nobody dies, the school usually doesn't care about fights," he explained with a grin. "Trust me."
He looked at Lucas with open admiration.
Dam had never expected that on the very first day of school, Lucas would completely crush the same guy who had bullied him before.
Thinking about how badly Sam had deserved that beating, Dam felt nothing but satisfaction.
Soon the three of them returned to their classroom.
Dam quickly dragged two unused desks from another room and placed them behind his own seat so Lucas and Emily could sit nearby.
The arrival of the two new students caused a brief ripple of curiosity.
Most of the attention, however, was focused on Emily.
After the initial excitement faded, the classroom gradually returned to its usual noisy chaos.
Jingle!
The bell signaling the start of class rang loudly.
But the students barely reacted.
Laughter and chatter still filled the room.
Lucas sat quietly in his seat, observing the scene while lost in thought.
This school environment was even more chaotic than he expected.
Boom.
A hand suddenly tapped lightly on his desk.
Lucas looked up.
Standing beside him was a man wearing a suit and glasses. His expression carried a faint, curious smile.
"Student Lucas," the man said thoughtfully. "You seemed to be thinking very seriously just now. That makes me wonder if you have a unique understanding of fear."
"Fear?"
Lucas repeated the word.
"Yes," the man continued slowly. "Fear is a fascinating emotion. Everyone understands it differently. Why don't you tell us your perspective?"
Lucas paused briefly.
His mind began working rapidly.
Fortunately, the years of rigorous education he had experienced in his previous life had trained his thinking speed and reaction ability well.
"Fear," Lucas said calmly, "makes people subconsciously obey your orders."
"…Oh?"
The teacher's eyes narrowed slightly.
This perspective surprised him.
It was the first time he had heard fear explained so directly in terms of control.
"You have impressive psychological insight, Student Lucas," the man said with genuine admiration.
He then walked back to the podium.
Around the room, most students were still joking and whispering to each other as if the class had never started.
Lucas sighed quietly.
"With classes like this, it's no wonder Emily wasn't worried about falling behind," he muttered to himself.
If students in his previous life had behaved so disrespectfully toward a teacher, the consequences would have been severe.
But here, the teacher seemed completely unconcerned.
Jonathan slowly turned around.
A faint smile remained on his face.
Without warning, he reached into his jacket and pulled out a pistol.
The gun was raised calmly.
The classroom instantly fell silent.
Jonathan aimed the pistol directly at one of the boys who had been shouting the loudest moments earlier.
The boy's face turned pale.
He slowly raised his hands.
Fear filled his eyes as he stared at the gun pointed straight at him.
"Ha!"
Jonathan suddenly laughed.
"Students, Lucas's answer was absolutely correct."
He lowered the pistol casually and looked around the now completely silent classroom.
"Teacher, that's going too far!"
A white girl shouted angrily.
Her protest instantly shattered the silence.
The classroom erupted into loud noise again.
Some students complained, while others laughed in excitement.
A few even praised Jonathan's "unique teaching method."
When Jonathan finally left the classroom with a cheerful smile and his briefcase slung over his shoulder, many students were still talking about what had just happened.
"Hey, Teacher Jonathan seemed different today!" Dam shouted excitedly from the front row.
"Jonathan…"
Lucas froze slightly.
That name felt strangely familiar.
"This is the first time I've ever seen Teacher Jonathan praise a student," Dam continued enthusiastically. "Lucas, you're amazing! Getting praised by him on your first day!"
Another student laughed nearby.
"Lucas Kane, huh? I didn't expect the new guy to be this interesting. 'Fear makes people obey your orders'—man, Jonathan even demonstrated it on the spot!"
After just one class, the students who had previously only noticed Emily began paying attention to Lucas as well.
Under the curious gazes of their classmates, Lucas led Emily out toward the cafeteria.
The overly enthusiastic reactions of some students still made him slightly uncomfortable.
Compared to them, he felt like an outsider observing a strange social experiment.
Meanwhile, Emily seemed to be enjoying everything.
By the end of the day, she looked energetic and happy, as if she had already gained a lot from her classes.
Lucas, on the other hand, felt a faint headache.
He had barely absorbed anything from the lessons.
Half the time he couldn't even tell whether class had started or ended. The only way to know was by checking whether a teacher was present in the classroom.
The academic environment of Gotham schools was even more outrageous than the worst examples he had seen in his previous life.
Still, in just one day, both Lucas and Emily had already become well-known among their classmates.
When news spread that Sam—the school bully—had been hospitalized after provoking Lucas, many boys began looking at him with admiration.
Even Dam, who had previously gone unnoticed by most students, suddenly became a center of conversation.
Most of those conversations revolved around Lucas's supposed "Eastern martial arts" and Emily's beauty.
Lucas walked ahead along a historic bluestone path that ran through the campus.
Emily and Dam followed behind him.
As they approached a courtyard, Lucas suddenly narrowed his eyes slightly.
A large group of students had gathered ahead.
They surrounded a girl who seemed to be discussing something with them.
As Lucas got closer, he sensed a faint but unusual fluctuation.
The strange feeling became clearer the nearer he moved toward the crowd.
He glanced briefly at the girl in the center.
She looked vaguely familiar.
Lucas's expression didn't change.
Without stopping, he simply guided Emily and Dam past the group.
Dam suddenly spoke with a meaningful tone.
"That girl is from the Grayson family. Ever since she was rescued by the Judge once, she's been promoting something around school."
Lucas glanced at him.
"What kind of promotion?"
"She's offering ten thousand dollars," Dam said.
Emily's eyes widened immediately.
"Ten thousand dollars?!"
Dam nodded.
"Yeah. Anyone who finds information about the Judge can get a ten-thousand-dollar reward."
Emily looked shocked.
Even for someone who worked at a bar, that amount of money was extremely tempting.
Dam continued explaining.
"The Grayson family isn't as powerful as the Wayne family, but they still have a lot of influence in the East End. One of their relatives recently came to Gotham too."
He spoke with clear fascination.
"People here call him the Flying Grayson. That whole family is basically legendary in Gotham."
"Flying Grayson…"
Lucas's eyes flickered slightly.
A certain woman he had once met in the tavern suddenly appeared in his mind.
....
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