At Babel, there was one piece of advice given to all freshmen shortly after their admission, regardless of their department.2

“No matter what, don’t skip any classes until at least the end of the first semester.”2

Though it sounded like the typical “study diligently,” freshmen who had truly begun their lives at Babel always soon realized the significance of that advice.0

“I see that you’ve been on a break due to an injury for three days; take all of these assignments that have piled up in the meantime and finish them by this week.”1

“Today, we will practice defending against thirty-eight types of irregular attacks using automatons. You missed the last class? Just watch and follow along.”0

Taking a few days off meant that either dozens of assignments had piled up or that they would be facing unreasonably harsh lessons, oftentimes both.1

Of course, all students accepted by Babel were exceptionally talented and caught up quickly, but the problem was that by the time they caught up, their recent assignments had piled up like a mountain.0

“Why are these classes like this…”0

“I would have only taken one minor class if I knew it would be like this…”0

Students who casually took on too many minor courses felt the burden increase, and some even started to give up on the difficult classes.0

Eventually, that fate would creep up on all of those who did not heed the advice.0

“Here are all the assignments you’ve missed.”0

Boom!0

And Se-Hoon found that very fate creeping up on him as well.1

“…”0

Looking at the mountain of papers before him, he wore a puzzled expression.0

He was sure he had signed up for the Barrier Composition class, so why had he been greeted with this pile of papers?0

Did they...0