Academy Delinquent, Episode 10
“He won’t die.”
“Stop.”
Baek Iljin’s hollow, empty gaze, reflecting nothing, collided with her cold, frigid eyes.
At a glance, the two seemingly similar eyes observed each other, neither willing to yield.
“Let go.”
With those words, Baek Iljin tried to pull his caught hand free, but his wrist, already frozen and stuck to her hand, refused to obey.
*Cold.*
The chill that began at his wrist had already penetrated to his shoulder. It was an extreme cold qi of such intensity that even Baek Iljin, who rarely felt the cold, felt it.
In an instant, Baek Iljin’s right arm turned dark blue, as if afflicted with frostbite.
“Hup.”
Baek Iljin ignored his frozen arm and forced his wrist free with strength. The arm freed from her hand instantly regained its color.
For a very brief moment, her pupils, which had been like ice, trembled.
Ignoring her, Baek Iljin passed by and once again grabbed Bang Geochung’s collar, lifting him up. A face swollen black and blue, utterly battered, was revealed.
“Please spare me…… I was wrong. Please.”
Despite Bang Geochung’s large frame, he shed sniveling tears as he spoke. Baek Iljin gave no reply to his words and simply raised his hand.
*Just enough that he won’t die.*
Just then, she once again stepped in front of him. The pure white, jade-like hand blocking his way was wrapped in an even stronger chill than before.
*What a bother.*
Whether because the girl who kept blocking his way was starting to annoy him, Baek Iljin threw Bang Geochung to the ground and stared straight into her eyes.
“What now.”
“I said stop.”
As the brief standoff continued, the students watching the situation began to recognize her.
“I-it’s Seol Hayun…….”
“That Seol Hayun? The Ice Palace’s……?”
The successor of the Ice Palace, who was said to have begun learning the Lesser Ice Art at the age of ten, was quite a famous rising star among martial artists.
Their whispering reached Baek Iljin’s ears as well.
*Seol Hayun?*
Baek Iljin also had a memory of seeing the name Seol Hayun on the entrance exam bulletin board.
*She was fourth place in the Martial Arts Track, wasn’t she.*
Hwangbo Cheolsu, who had approached unnoticed, stepped between the two facing off. Hwangbo Cheolsu put on his characteristically innocent face.
“Iljin, I think you can stop now. Hayun, long time no see. I’d appreciate it if you stopped too.”
Seeing Hwangbo Cheolsu’s restless appearance, Baek Iljin lowered his hand. He didn’t want to burden the first friend he’d made since entering the world.
“Fine.”
Then he jerked his chin at Bang Geochung. A gesture telling him to get lost.
“Th-thank you for sparing me.”
Having said so, Bang Geochung jumped up as if his butt were on fire and quickly disappeared from the spot.
Seol Hayun finally lowered her hand as well. The frost slowly disappearing from her hand sparkled as it reflected the sunlight.
“Wow!”
“So pretty…….”
The students exclaimed as they watched the scene. Baek Iljin also savored the brilliant, scattering particles in the air as if admiring them.
*She emanates cold qi without even using magic…… So this is how it’s done.*
In that moment, cold qi surged from Baek Iljin’s fingertips, creating a tiny patch of frost that vanished immediately. It happened so quickly that no one sensed the energy.
Even with Bang Geochung gone, Baek Iljin and Seol Hayun maintained their standoff. Hwangbo Cheolsu was chattering about something beside them, but it barely reached their ears.
Into the space between them approached a student covered in wounds. It was Yuel, the student who had been sent flying by Bang Geochung’s punch earlier.
“Um, thank you.”
The sight of the student—with acorn-like hair, a face swollen from being hit repeatedly, and glasses cracked on one side—evoked pity.
“I didn’t do it to save you.”
“E-even so…….”
Yuel looked as though he wanted to say more, but he wrung his hands and hesitated, then said nothing and forced a smile.
“Ah, no. Thank you. You said your name is Baek Iljin, right? I’ll definitely pay you back later!”
“No need.”
Watching that scene, Seol Hayun finally realized she had misunderstood.
*So he wasn’t bullying a weak student.*
Bang Geochung, with his large frame, was not a student who looked weak by any means. But because she had never held such prejudices, she had simply assumed Baek Iljin was bullying a weak student.
*I should…… apologize?*
She knew that too. If you misunderstood, you had to apologize. The problem was that she didn’t know how to apologize well.
“I misunderstood. Sorry.”
A short apology spat out bluntly. At a glance, it seemed insincere. But for her, who had never once apologized in her life, it was an apology made with courage.
The moment Hwangbo Cheolsu, knowing this, tried to accept the apology with an appropriate smile, Baek Iljin spoke first.
“Haha…… Hayun apologized too, so Iljin, you should also stop…….”
“Is that the Ice Palace’s way of apologizing?”
From Baek Iljin’s perspective, it was a question born purely from curiosity about whether different sects had different ways of apologizing.
“……?!”
“…….”
But the people around them took it with a different meaning. To think he would receive an apology from the successor of the Ice Palace and then quibble about the apology method while mentioning her sect.
“D-did you hear that?”
“He mentioned the Ice Palace…….”
“No matter how much people say the Ice Palace isn’t what it used to be these days…….”
Seol Hayun’s brow furrowed slightly, and her pale face flushed just a little.
“You…….”
Reading that subtle change in her demeanor, Hwangbo Cheolsu pondered, *How should I handle this situation?* then smiled awkwardly and began to explain to Baek Iljin.
“Iljin, you came from the mountains so you might not know, but these days, apologizing like this is the trend. It’s also good manners…….”
He tried to cleverly escape the situation, but his absurd explanation instead made the already frigid atmosphere sink even further.
“Trend? Manners?”
“Yeah……!”
“I see.”
Falling for Hwangbo Cheolsu’s words, Baek Iljin nodded as if he had learned something new.
“Ha…….”
Seol Hayun was so dumbfounded words wouldn’t come out. Her slightly flushed face had yet to return to its original color.
Gulp.
Someone swallowed audibly.
By now, the spectating students were growing anxious. They were curious just what kind of person that long-haired guy was.
But Baek Iljin alone had no idea why the atmosphere had suddenly frozen over. No, he couldn’t even sense that the atmosphere had frozen.
He simply thought, *So apologizing simply is the etiquette of this world.*
Having seen the exam results, Baek Iljin figured there was no need to stay here any longer and turned around.
“Charles, let’s go.”
“Huh……? Oh.”
Toward their retreating figures, who cast a stone to cause ripples and walked away as if nothing had happened, the remaining onlookers began to gossip.
* * *
A place built in a new architectural style that naturally blended the soft elegance of the Central Plains people and the piercing haughtiness of the Rochert people.
[The Tower of Magicians & Murim Alliance Affiliated Academy]
Commonly known as the Magic Murim Academy, it was a higher education institution that stood alongside the Imperial Academy attended by nobles as the two pillars of the Empire. No, one could even say its admission process was more stringent than the Imperial Academy’s.
Giving up on admission to such an academy was difficult for anyone. It was the same for Yuel.
*More importantly, what should I do about feeling sorry to the person who wrote me a letter of recommendation…….*
Regret filled his eyes as he touched various spots around the academy with trembling hands.
After agonizing over the decision for several days, he had decided to withdraw his admission and submitted his withdrawal form to the Academic Affairs Office, but he couldn’t help but feel regret.
“Sigh…….”
Why did the ivory building behind him look even more resplendent? Was it his imagination that even the tiles he stepped on looked elegant?
He shook his head.
*No.*
But the moment he thought of “Bang Geochung,” the feeling of regret vanished without a trace. He felt he couldn’t possibly endure a place crawling with monsters like this.
Setting aside the physical aspect, mentally as well…….
“I-it doesn’t have to be the academy! I can become a professor through other means too!”
The boy, who possessed such astonishing talent that he had passed the academy entrance exam through self-study, rekindled the light in his eyes that had gone out for a moment and vowed to face a hopeful future.
Gurgle.
*But first, let’s eat.*
He entered quite a luxurious restaurant, took a seat, and ordered food. The price was high enough to make him gasp, but since his admission fee was now saved, this much luxury was within acceptable limits.
Waiters greeted him with 90-degree bows. Their service mindset could be felt from the greeting alone.
*I feel like I’ve become a noble!*
The excessive kindness of the employees wasn’t bad. Thinking things like, *So this is what spending money feels like,* he looked around.
“Wow.”
The interior decorations of the restaurant, made of luxurious solid wood, were all splendid. The subtle scent of wood and the music playing added to the elegance.
*So this is why people go on and on about money.*
While admiring the interior like that, his gaze stopped at one spot, and Yuel spat out water with a pfft.
*Why is that person here…….*
Someone who shouldn’t be here.
Someone who should be taking academy classes right now.
*Baek Iljin.*
Long hair tied up like the martial artists of old. A cold-looking expression, yet a manly, handsome face. Tall stature and a sturdy physique.
The student named Baek Iljin possessed an appearance that suited this elegant restaurant. But what caught his eye even more than those things was his expression.
*Wow…… I didn’t know he could make a face like that.*
He looked like a completely different person as he ate food, beaming. If it weren’t for his distinctive hairstyle, he might not have recognized him.
*But why is he here instead of the academy?*
The entrance ceremony had been moved up a day due to the princess’s birthday, and he should have been notified in advance, yet here he was leisurely eating a meal…….
*Could it be he doesn’t have a personal tablet, so he didn’t get the message?*
Come to think of it, he seemed to recall hearing something about Baek Iljin coming from the mountains.
*Should I tell him just in case? No, would that be meddling?*
The image of him slapping Bang Geochung came to mind, which was scary, and he worried about butting in, but the answer was already set anyway.
*He might really not know.*
Gulp, gulp.
He downed the remaining water in one go and approached Baek Iljin. At that moment, Baek Iljin was stuffing his mouth full of T-bone steak.
“Um…….”
* * *
Someone was running frantically through the middle of the academy building. There was steak sauce on his chin, perhaps because he had just eaten.
*Tsk, the first day of school got moved up…….*
After the entrance exam results were announced, the Hwangbo twins said they had business at their family estate and left after saying they’d see him on the first day of school.
Thus, Baek Iljin, left alone without a tablet, had failed to receive the changed entrance date and was late from the very first day.
The dazzling ivory building and elegant tiles were not things he had time to look at while running quickly.
Baek Iljin stopped by the Academic Affairs Office to pay his tuition, received his uniform, quickly changed, and headed toward the main lecture hall.
An office worker had said, “This is the first time I’ve seen a student late from the very first day. Hohoho,” but he couldn’t even respond.
*I need to buy one of those tablet things today.*
Even for him, this situation was not very welcome.
Passing the sign that read [Qinggong and Haste Prohibited in Hallways] quickly, Baek Iljin finally arrived at the main lecture hall.
*I heard the entrance ceremony already ended, so are they in the middle of the first class?*
Before the class placement exam, all first-year students took classes together. The main lecture hall, where 600 students were gathered at once—yet very quiet—was shaped like a grand chapel.
Baek Iljin took a small deep breath, strode up, and grasped the handle of the main lecture hall door.
Creak—
The door to the main lecture hall, where class was in session, opened.
At that alien noise breaking the silence, the eyes of every student in class converged on Baek Iljin.
*What’s with that guy? He’s number 200, so why is there the character 特 (special) attached after it?*
*Is he the special admission student—the first since the Written Exam Track was established?*
*If he’s a special admission student, so be it, but what’s with being late to the first class…….*
The uniforms of the seated students were divided into three: black for the Martial Arts Track, white for the Magic Track, and gray for the Written Exam Track.
Also, numbers were written on their uniform name tags—these indicated their ranks in the entrance exam.
The professor holding a microphone at the podium frowned deeply and looked at the latecomer.
“Who are you?”
The one who asked was a middle-aged magician with a strict impression. His stubborn mouth with downturned corners and a forehead furrowed into the character 川 (river) were prominent.
*I’d seen him in the pamphlet…… who was it again.*
After brief deliberation, Baek Iljin was able to recall who the old magician glaring at him from the podium was.
*7-Star Barrier Mage, Decant of Silence.*
The alias Silence (別號) was a title honoring his barrier magic, but there was also a rumor that it came from watching all the students in his class dozing off.
“I asked who you are.”
“I am Baek Iljin.”
The wrinkles in Professor Decant’s forehead deepened and veins bulged. It looked almost like seeing the Taiyangxue (太陽穴) of martial artists.
“No, I mean what were you doing that made you late. And if you’re late, shouldn’t an apology come first?”
An apology? An apology…….
In that instant, Baek Iljin recalled what Hwangbo Cheolsu had told him days ago.
*Apologizing simply is the trend and good manners.*
Having finished his thought, Baek Iljin enacted his friend’s teaching right in the face of the professor before him, Decant of Silence.
“Sorry.”