CHAPTER FIVE: ACCELERATION (Revised )
The acceptance letter arrived folded neatly inside a white envelope.
Min-Jae read it once, then placed it back on the desk.
There was no joy in it. Only confirmation that the path he had already chosen remained open.
The school was different from anything he had known.
Not louder. Not harsher.
Sharper.
Students spoke carefully. Teachers expected results without asking for them. Conversations in hallways carried surnames, not first names.
Min-Jae listened more than he spoke.
He learned which students never worried about tuition. Which ones carried themselves like temporary guests. Which ones were already preparing exits to foreign universities.
Patterns emerged.
So did friction.
One student, Lee Seung-Hwan, watched him with quiet interest. Not hostility. Not curiosity.
Recognition.
Min-Jae felt it immediately.
That night, while reviewing trades routed through Daniel, something felt… off.
Not wrong. Just imprecise.
A price moved earlier than expected. Another corrected faster than it should have.
Small things.
But small things broke systems.
Min-Jae adjusted his positions without hesitation, slowing growth instead of chasing margins. It cost him profit.
It bought him time.
He did not consult the system.
He did not call on the god.
He trusted his instincts.
At school, Seung-Hwan spoke to him once.
"You think long-term," he said casually, as if discussing homework.
"So does everyone here," Min-Jae replied.
Seung-Hwan smiled, unconvinced.
That was fine.
Suspicion meant distance.
Distance meant safety.
Daniel messaged him two weeks later.
Someone asked questions.
Min-Jae spent the night cleaning trails—nothing dramatic, nothing desperate. Just noise layered over truth until the truth became statistically irrelevant.
By morning, the question disappeared.
Min-Jae slept through first period.
On the rooftop later that day, he looked out over Seoul and felt something unfamiliar.
Not fear.
Pressure.
The kind that meant growth had reached a point where mistakes mattered.
He welcomed it.
Acceleration, after all, was never smooth.