If those of us living in the modern age were asked to think back to our school days and describe it in one word, what would we say? Some might have beautiful words to describe their days in school, but for me, school was just a jungle.
Sitting in a square classroom for a fixed amount of time every day, we would have things continuously stuffed into our heads in the name of education. No one ever told us why we had to learn those countless subjects. At some point, I found myself being assessed based on my grades and my future gradually being decided before it even got to unfold. It was terrifying.
What was even scarier was how the people around me would treat me more spitefully as my value became increasingly determined by numbers and rankings. The teachers who never even talked to me would only call my name warmly before punishing me physically, and my “friends”would belittle and look down on me, and on occasion, they would even become violent.
Is there no way to survive such a jungle? Actually, there is!
To survive, you must become impervious to the laws of the jungle that are victimizing you and cultivate your own set of values. You must also find someone who shares those values and find a way out of the perilous jungle together.
That’s what happens to the protagonist of Maegu: THE ZERO, Gu Yeon-jeong. When rumors swirl about a fox demon hiding in the school, the students who have always been jealous of Yeon-jeong jump on the opportunity to start a witch hunt and accuse her of being the demon.
However, Yeon-jeong does not allow herself to become disheartened. She forges her own path by not losing courage, and she makes a friend in Yeo Eun-u, who has a strange charm. In doing so, Yeon-jeong manages to face the school and other students head-on and make her way out of the jungle.
Who knows? Maybe El Dorado can be found outside the jungle.