Astronomy // Duty After School

Chapter Two.

The class was surprised to see Ms. Park was back rather than their first-period teacher. They, nonetheless, began returning to their seats, murmuring to each other in confusion.

"What? Isn't it first period?"

"That stupid asshole," Il-ha sighed, shaking his head. Ms. Park stood patiently at the front of the room, waiting for everyone to return to their seats. There was a look in her eyes, one that held nothing but worry.

"Everyone," Ms. Park said. She looked around at them all, almost hesitant to say what she needed to. "It looks like this year's early admissions will be canceled."

"What does this mean?"

"What kind of nonsense is that?"

"M-Ms. Park, is that true?" Yeong-su asked, raising his hand.

"Ms. Park, what's the matter?" Tae-man frowned.

"Are you really sure?"

"Is it also canceled for other schools?" Sun-yi questioned.

"What about the people who applied for early admission?" Jun-hi asked as more murmuring filled the air. Ms. Park gazed all around at her students, growing slightly annoyed with their chatter as it prevented her from answering their questions.

"Is this related to the reinstatement of Martial Law?" (Y/n) wondered to Yu-jeong.

"Listen to what I'm saying first!" Ms. Park said. "Only early admission will be canceled, and CSATs will be taken as scheduled. Also..." She sighed as she failed to get their attention. She checked her watch before walking over to a shelving unit and grabbing the remote off the top of it. She walked back to her podium. "I'll explain slowly, so can you please look here?" She turned on the TV before the class even quieted down.

"—Minister of Defense will soon be giving the national conference on enlistment of students in the military," said the anchorman. The class's attention was immediately caught. "We'll hear the specifics from our reporter, who's at the scene. Reporter Oh Eun-ji, please." There was a moment of silence as the reporter waited for her earpiece to pick up on her introduction.

"Yes, I'm at the Ministry of Defense's briefing right now," said the woman. "Emergency national conference will be starting soon... Minister of Defense, Park Sang-man, took the podium just now. Let's listen to what he'll be saying." The camera zoomed in on a man, who reached his podium and bowed.

"I'm the Minister of Defence," the man began. "Dear citizens, almost a year has passed since the appearance of unidentified spheres worldwide. As of now, we can't confirm their risks, but they can fall at any given moment. In order to prepare for such events, please understand the issuance of National Mobilization Law."

"N-National what?"

"What is he issuing?"

"Besides active duty soldiers, enlisted candidates, and reserve force, all male and female adults over twenty-four years old... and... the current high school seniors will be drafted."

"Seniors?"

"Us?"

"Hey, what is he saying?"

"What is happening to us?"

"Be quiet for a second!" Bo-ra said over all of the chatter. Yeong-shin opened his laptop to watch a live stream of the announcement.

"Without exception, collection order will be ordered at each student's current school. Therefore, inevitably, 2023 early admissions for college were all decided to be canceled... But to maintain as much normalcy as possible in our schools, the following changes will apply to third-year high school students only. For these students, there will be military training and their usual classes at the same time. As such, the government decided to reward the students, who agree to military training, with extra credit for college admissions. Regarding extra credit, after discussing with the Department of Education—" Ms. Park turned off the TV.