I got into school for nothing - 325
I got into school for nothing (325)
Lesson 63. Year 2 - 5
Accompanying Ban Yuwon into Ronica, the external city of Union Academy, Heukseol marvelled at everything she encountered.
“I was certainly aware of the concepts of other dimensions, but seeing them with my own eyes is even more astonishing.”
“You're already drawing attention with your outfit, so stop looking around so much.”
Ban Yuwon had already shed his training uniform on the spaceship coming to Union Academy, changing into a modern shirt and trousers and donning a coat, but Heukseol, who had even helped him change, was still clad in the tight-fitting traditional attire of the Shin-gyo, drawing all eyes.
Especially the leopard ears perking up atop her head, and the wagging tail extending from behind her hips, mercilessly captivated gazes.
“Why don't you at least put on a cloak?”
“That is what I wear when I assume the position of vice-commander of the Myeolryongdan. Right now, I am merely the commander's personal maid.”
She was walking a little behind Ban Yuwon, seemingly intent on fulfilling her maid duties, but unable to suppress her curiosity, her gaze darted this way and that, her ears perked up here and there, and her tail whipped around relentlessly like a spinning propeller. It made him want to send her back to Murim right now.
“Whoa.”
“It's Ban Yuwon.”
“Has he already returned?”
As they walked down the street, gazes and attention flew towards them from all directions.
Initially, the gazes drawn by Heukseol's unique appearance seemed to linger on Ban Yuwon once they spotted him.
Then, their eyes shifted back to Heukseol, before each person nodded in understanding.
“Another woman's joined his retinue.”
“They say at Union Academy, there's a cartel made up solely of the next student council president's women, right?”
“She can't be a current student at Union Academy, can she?”
“Don't you know? There's a widespread rumor that this student council president has lovers in every dimension.”
“Is that so...?”
“...Commander?”
As whispers reached her from all sides, Heukseol glared at him with narrowed eyes and demanded.
“Just how many women are you seeing, exactly?”
“Someone will hear that and misunderstand. It's just that the people I often act with happen to all be women, so this perception has spread.”
“So, how many women are you in a deep relationship with?”
“Uh...”
“...Perhaps you can't count them on one hand?”
Ban Yuwon clamped his mouth shut.
Regardless of whether he could count them or not, he knew that the mere act of counting on his fingers meant he was 'out'.
Heukseol glared at him with an expression that seemed to say he was human garbage.
Then, she let out a sigh and shook her head.
“I know that the Commander isn't the type to chase after women... They must have subtly exploited the void in your heart after losing the Young Miss. And the Commander, in his confusion, just let them in. Isn't that right?”
“Were you... watching?”
“It's the most effective and dirtiest approach, regardless of gender. Using any means necessary—that's the way of the demonic cults.”
Heukseol clicked her tongue and added.
“Even so, you are too weak to women. If you were to encounter an assassin, you could be taken down just like that, so you'll need special training.”
“No, it's fine, so don't add anything else.”
“Tch, I was so close.”
The most terrifying assassin was right behind him.
Ban Yuwon deliberately ignored Heukseol, who licked her lips like a panther eyeing its prey, and quickened his pace toward their meeting place.
Logging into the Union Academy intranet after a long time, he found that rumors of his return to Union Academy had already spread widely.
The winter break wasn't over yet for other students either, but it seemed that many upperclassmen, if not lowerclassmen, would take a spaceship to Union Academy early and stay in accommodations in the external city.
‘Until the summer break of my first year, I thought you absolutely had to use Union Academy's spatial teleportation magic to travel to and from Union Academy.’
The older one gets, and the more their abilities grow, the wider their perspective becomes.
He now understood that even students who seemed to vaguely long for the Tower each harbored different desires.
For some of them, the Tower's near-omnipotent Authority and support could even feel unpleasant.
Now, Ban Yuwon somewhat sympathized with them.
“Welcome. Do you have a reservation?”
“Yes, under Professor Yumina's name from Union Academy... Thank you.”
Drawing everyone's gazes wherever they went, Ban Yuwon and Heukseol entered the establishment and, guided by a staff member, proceeded into a private party room.
“Yuwon!”
“Yuwon!”
The moment he stepped inside, Yumina, with her unchanging impression, rose with a bright smile, but before she could, someone darted past her, throwing themselves into Ban Yuwon's arms.
Long, ebony hair flowing down to her waist, beautiful amethyst-like violet eyes reflecting him with clear light.
It was Fairy Mira, looking much more mature than two years ago.
“Alright, Mira. You've worked hard.”
“That's right, I worked incredibly hard...!”
Mira rubbed against his chest with such force it seemed her head might pierce straight through him.
He'd worried her neatly combed hair would be ruined, but when Mira, lifting her head from his embrace, snapped her fingers, her hair instantly tidied itself.
...Ban Yuwon thought he wished she wouldn't use such a high-level ability like Changeling for trivial things like that.
“Congratulations on your graduation, Mira. And to you too, Senior Shatie.”
Patting Mira's back, he also nodded slightly to Shatie, who was seated at the center of the large table.
Shatie, without even rising, grinned and made a V-sign with her fingers.
“That's not the only thing to congratulate, new President.”
“Ugh.”
With Shatie graduating and stepping down from her position as president, the presidential election had been held at the end of the second semester.
Should it be called natural? It was none other than Ban Yuwon who had been elected as the new president, receiving overwhelming support.
Two years ago, he had been met with prejudiced gazes as a student from the Special Admissions for Lower-Rank Dimensions, but now he was elected student council president with the absolute support of the students, which was certainly a novel experience, but...
Honestly, Ban Yuwon no longer cared what students thought of him, so the title of president didn't really stick in his mind.
“Senior Shatie, you're graduating now, so please stop calling me President, I can't get used to it.”
“Then should I call you 'honey'?”
“She really–!”
Ban Yuwon chuckled, tightly holding Mira, who was trying to break free from his embrace to 'punish' Shatie.
“Congratulations on your appointment as a full professor.”
“That's right! That's it! Unlike some associate professors! A full professor! Call me Professor Shatie!”
Shatie, seemingly tireless, continued to boast and laugh.
Mira, trapped in Ban Yuwon's arms, grumbled indignantly, but Ban Yuwon merely shrugged, thinking that her immediate appointment as an associate professor was impressive enough.
“This year's evaluations were truly unprecedented. It's already amazing that Mira, fresh out of the Academy, was appointed associate professor without going through assistant professor, but Shatie is a full professor.”
Yumina, sharing her thoughts with him, spoke with a wry smile.
In that interval, he gently dislodged the somewhat calmed Mira from his embrace, and as he took off his coat, Heukseol quietly approached from behind, took it, and neatly hung it on a hanger she had already prepared.
Only then did the group's eyes turn to her, but Ban Yuwon deliberately ignored them and sat in the seat prepared for him.
To his left, Rucell was already seated quietly, smiling warmly at him, and to his right, Mira swiftly took a seat, ensuring no one else could claim it.
Across from him sat Asha, and it seemed she had won her competition against Aire today.
Asha, who had once grown her hair long, seemed to have settled on a style now, tying her back hair high and letting it fall long, which suited her active and pure demeanor perfectly.
“Everyone's been well, right?”
“Yes, Master. You've changed quite a lot, haven't you?”
“Yuwon, who is that person?”
“Ah, right... So...?”
Before continuing the conversation about professor appointments, Yumina furrowed her brow, glancing at Heukseol, whereupon Heukseol bowed her head slightly and spoke.
“I am Heukseol.”
“Heukseol, please sit down too.”
“I came to assist the Commander, so I cannot take a seat.”
“Don't be like that, just sit. Quickly.”
“I cannot...”
“Quickly.”
Even Heukseol, with her steadfast independence, could not overcome the Spring Goddess's smile, and so she eventually found herself seated at the edge of the table.
Heukseol would not know.
That Yumina's suggestion was not a kind consideration, but rather spoken because she disliked Heukseol lingering too close to Ban Yuwon.
“We were talking about appointments, weren't we?”
“That's right. It usually starts with an instructor position, doesn't it?”
Yumina shook her head at Ban Yuwon's question, indicating no.
“No, instructors are mostly made up of complete outsiders who have never been admitted to Union Academy. Graduating from the Academy with excellent grades... and especially if you've been part of the student council, it's generally easier to pass the assistant professor evaluation.”
“And from there, to become an associate professor?”
“At least 100 to 200 years.”
“Whoa.”
Ban Yuwon imagined that span of time and slapped his forehead.
It seemed that the people attending this crazy Academy, perhaps because so many of them lived extremely long lives, also had ridiculously long 'servitude' periods.
But looking at it the other way, Mira had leapfrogged this average of 150 years and immediately attained the position of associate professor.
This was possible because Union Academy valued a person's abilities above all else, stripping away easily inflated evaluation factors like experience and age. rAN0bЕs
“If it weren't for me, having the same major, you might have become a full professor immediately. I'm sorry.”
At the words spoken by Professor Campanella, who was sitting slightly apart from the others with a weak smile, Mira shook her head earnestly.
“I still can't keep up with you, Professor. I have much more to learn.”
“Anyway, from associate professor to full professor, then?”
“Around 300 to 500 years? Of course, many assistant professors never manage to be promoted to associate professor, and it's even harder to advance from associate professor to full professor.”
Indeed, that's why my sister, Yumina, who is five centuries old, still counted as a young professor.
“Actually, we were lucky.”
Shatie herself, who had skipped at least 400 and up to 700 years of advancement to become the youngest full professor, blathered on like that.
“Recently, so many... full professor positions opened up all at once.”
“That's right. Even if they immediately promoted one prepared individual to full professor, there's nothing they could do about the empty positions. Honestly, if Yuwon had been a graduate, the Chancellor would have made him a full professor immediately, no matter what.”
“I have no intention of becoming an Academy professor.”
Ban Yuwon stated decisively and picked up the menu.
As he was about to order alcohol, Rucell, seated next to him, slid over a wine glass she had already ordered, timed for his arrival.
“Thanks, Rucell.”
“Let's toast together.”
“...”
And Heukseol, in the corner of the table, gazed at Rucell with a meaningful expression.
Perhaps she had realized that Rucell was her true rival, but unfortunately, that competition had already long concluded in Heukseol's absence.
“Then, cheers.”
As Ban Yuwon raised his glass, even those who had been chatting fell silent and raised their own glasses.
Heukseol, feeling awkward standing still alone, raised her water glass, but Ban Yuwon chuckled and gestured, and by then, the water in her glass had turned into wine.
Heukseol thought that indeed, a master was different from others, and quietly raised her glass again.
“Honey, you're better at Changeling than I am now.”
“I learned it, so of course I should be good at it. Alright, let's toast. May everyone's wishes come true this year.”
Clink— Everyone's glasses met in the air.
Asha, across from him, quietly looked into his eyes and asked.
“What is it that you wish for?”
“Simple. The conquest of the Tower.”
Ban Yuwon, emptying his glass in one gulp, set it down and grinned.
“I think I can achieve it this year.”
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