Chapter 3

Thankfully, Mom kept a fairly level head and immediately called the application system's official support line. The person on the other end took it seriously and promised to look into it right away.

Before long, they called back.

"Hello, ma'am. We've checked very carefully, and our system is working perfectly fine. Hundreds of thousands of people are submitting applications every second right now, and we haven't received a single report of any problems."

"We also found that the application you submitted really did list only Fernbrook Vocational School, so this isn't a system glitch."

Dad couldn't hold it in any longer. "So you're saying our kid, who scored over 1500, applied to a trade school that takes scores around 800? Are you prepared to take legal responsibility for that?"

They apologized right away and patiently explained. "Sir, we don't know how the application was filled out on your end, but we can absolutely guarantee the system's stability. If a system failure caused a mistake in your application, we'll take full criminal liability!"

After we hung up, nobody said a word. If they were that certain, the chances of a system error seemed slim to none. So what on Earth was going on?

Mom suggested having a consulting firm redo the application, but I shot that down right away. In my past life, we went to the city's most reputable firm, and it ended the same way. This time, I needed something more reliable.

That was when I noticed a university recruitment flyer on the table, and an idea hit me.

Universities were holding admissions events at high schools all week. If I contacted Wexford's admissions officers directly and applied through them, nothing could go wrong, right?

As soon as I got through and the officer heard my score, they showed up in person with a colleague. Both of them were thrilled to see me, and one of them said, "If you want to study AI, Wexford is the right choice! Your future's going to be brilliant!"

The other immediately opened a laptop to help me apply.

But I was still worried, so I told them everything that had happened. To my surprise, they waved it off.

"Don't worry about a thing! We're applying for you through our internal channel. Even if the whole application system crashes, it won't affect your admission!"

My parents lit up at that, and I relaxed a little too. The two officers quickly filled in all my information and clicked submit.

I was more nervous than I'd ever been. After the loading circle spun a few times, the page came up.