Academy's Delinquent in Charge, Episode 20
At the unexpected words from Karis's mouth, Hwangbo Cheolsu and Hwangbo Sujeong widened their eyes and spoke.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"Why should we be careful of Iljin?"
He thought, 'Ah, crap.'
He shouldn't have opened the conversation with such talk, but words once spoken could not be taken back.
"Hmm..."
Then how should he start the conversation from here?
As an uncle, should he first ask after his niece and nephew, whom he hadn't seen in a long time?
'Or should I tell them to keep their distance from that friend of theirs who is suspiciously talented at magic, that he seems to be a dragon—or someone with dragon blood mixed in?'
Should he talk about the family's secret history first before saying that? If he talked about it that far, would he also have to talk about Telos?
'I'm going crazy.'
Professor Karis, who usually led lectures skillfully without any preparation, was not here. Only a blunt uncle meeting his blood kin remained.
"Uh..."
His mouth finally opened, but as if something enormous were gripping his throat, no words came out.
"Hmm..."
Worries he had never conceived even while living as a mercenary, nor while sustaining his life as a professor after being appointed to the academy, surged up like water and tangled Karis's mind.
"Um... Professor? Could it be you're sleeping with your eyes open... Ack— That hurts! What's wrong with you?"
"Read the room, Cheolsu."
Hwangbo Sujeong forcefully tugged on Hwangbo Cheolsu's sideburns, who had thoughtlessly broken Karis's train of thought.
'It's like looking at my sister and me in our childhood.'
Karis raised his hand above Hwangbo Cheolsu's head to pat him as he rounded his eyes and made a tearful face, then flinched in surprise and lowered his hand.
"Ahem."
"Professor, but why should we be careful of Iljin?"
Hwangbo Sujeong asked Karis with bright, round eyes. Seeing that expression, Karis slowly turned his head.
If he kept looking at that face, he felt he would burst into tears unsightlily.
'She looks just like my damn sister.'
Perhaps to hide that expression, Karis coughed dryly for a while before turning his head again. The Hwangbo twins were still looking at him with faces that were both awkward and familiar.
'Hoo—Karis, deep breaths. Deep breaths.'
Having barely suppressed the swirling vortex of emotions, Karis opened his mouth.
"...Never mind. It's just that the fellow came without even wearing his uniform, so his conduct didn't look good. That's why I said it, so don't take it to heart too much."
Having said that, Karis patted the Hwangbo twins' shoulders and left his seat. The Hwangbo twins, left alone in the lecture hall he had departed, looked at each other and shrugged.
"Why did he say something like that?"
"He might not know much about Iljin."
"Is that so?"
* * *
Karis hurried out of the lecture hall with quick steps, and only after pausing to catch his breath before the door with wistful eyes could he compose his mental state.
'It isn't easy.'
He had thought it would be fine until the lecture, but trying to talk to them face-to-face consumed far more emotion than he had expected.
Just then, a familiar voice was heard from the air in the corridor.
"'Don't take it to heart too much.' Keuh— I never dreamed I'd hear such a line from the mouth of the short-tempered magic swordsman, Mr. Karis—"
"Who's there!"
Karis, who had drawn his cherished blade, the Seven Severing Sword, before he knew it, charged toward the direction of the voice and swung his sword. But the Seven Severing Sword only split empty air.
'Tch, I couldn't cut him this time either? What a shame.'
Soon, seeing Armut appear distorting the space in the corridor, Karis thrust his sword back into its scabbard and spoke bluntly.
"So it was the Dean. What kind of person sneaks around like a rat?"
"Aack— Mr. Karis! I was surprised you swung your sword out of nowhere."
Though he spoke like that, his expression was not surprised at all. Rather, as if enjoying the situation, a crescent-shaped smile was drawn at the corners of Armut's lips.
"I didn't know it was the Dean. I thought it was a rat hiding in the academy."
"Mr. Karis, you really are—such a trickster."
Karis instinctively used his Insight to scan Armut and flinched. The energy stored within Armut had grown far more immense than before.
'He grew stronger in that short time? He knows no limits.'
Until now, he had been more than deserving of being called a monster. Yet how long had it been since they last met, and he had already grown stronger?
"Congratulations. Seeing that you've grown stronger, it seems you've gained some enlightenment. My my, while some people only work, others grow stronger by the day."
"Hoo— as expected of Mr. Karis!"
"...?"
Seeing Karis's reaction, Armut made his characteristic sly expression and spoke.
"Mr. Karis, that voyeuristic habit of using Insight is still the same, I see. Hoo-hoo—"
"Wh-what do you mean by voyeurism? If anything, why is the Dean eavesdropping on others' conversations?"
"Hmm—when three descendants of the Lobnine family gather to conspire, it would be stranger not to be curious."
"Stop saying such strange things about conspiracies, and why have you come to find me!"
Watching the excited Karis, Armut giggled to himself and extended his palm.
"If you're curious, 500 gol—"
"Are you joking? If you want to look young, instead of practicing such shoddy ocular arts, you should fix those dusty old gags first."
"It's not a gag... Hmph, Mr. Karis, you're too cold."
"So what is your business? It's late, so please speak quickly."
As far as Karis knew, Armut, the Dean of the Magic Department, did not come unless he had business. He was also someone whose whether he properly came to work was questionable.
'But why did Dean Armut come here?'
He stared at Armut's face, but those shifty, slit-like eyes gave him no clue whatsoever.
'Could it be that he came because I told the students the keywords to Mode Magic during the lecture?'
No way.
It probably wasn't. That gentleman called Armut was someone who had never shown any proper work since Karis was invited as a professor at the academy.
"Don't worry. It's not like you taught the students Mode Magic chants in class, so why are you so nervous?"
At Armut's words, Karis let out a bitter smile.
'Sss—he already knew.'
If not that, then for what reason had he come? Just what sort of matter was worth a dean-level person's intervention...
'Could it be?'
Karis recalled what Decant had said when he visited a few hours ago.
Asking if he knew anything about a fellow called Baek Iljin. That he was hiding something. Decant had surely conveyed this to Armut as well.
"Is it because of the student called Baek Iljin?"
"Oh, you knew. As expected of a master of voyeurism—"
"Stop talking nonsense."
Armut laughed with a "hoo-hoo—" and floated his body gently into the air, lying down in midair.
"That student... how did he look to you, Mr. Karis?"
"Professor Decant asked me the same thing, and I answered then as well—there was nothing particularly unusual. Except that he's a bit of a delinquent."
"Hmm, is that so?"
Armut wrapped his chin with his fingers and appeared to be thinking about something. The blue irises visible between his slightly opened, half-closed eyes shone swayingly.
'Could that fellow really have something special about him?'
Indeed, if one looked for them, there were many peculiar points.
Handsome appearance, a blunt expression visible during the lecture, long hair hanging down like martial artists of old, and the delinquency of not even wearing his uniform.
'And even mana with a property that couldn't be felt at all.'
But Karis concealed Baek Iljin, pretending not to know despite such thoughts.
Was it because he was a close friend of the Hwangbo twins? Or was it a teacher's heart trying to protect his student?
It might be neither.
But one thing was certain. For some reason, he didn't want to tell Armut anything.
"Just what is that fellow called Baek Iljin that even the Dean would pay attention to him?"
"You really don't know? He's a special admission student!"
A special admission student? So what if he was? It was unprecedented for a special admission student to appear in the written examination, but it wasn't something worth a dean-level figure's attention.
"Ah... is that something worthy of the Dean's personal attention?"
"Hoo-hoo—he's the first special admission student to come from the written exam, so of course I'm curious!"
"Hmm..."
"But Professor Zhuge and Professor Sima don't seem willing to tell me."
"I don't know either."
"Is that so?"
Armut wiped the smile from his lips. Then he slightly opened his eyes, which had been closed like thin slits, and spoke in a cold voice.
"Then let me ask one more question, Mr. Karis."
"Yes."
"Are you still a person of the Lobnine family?"
"...Excuse me? What do you mean by that?"
"It means exactly what I said. I'm asking if you still live with the Lobnine family engraved in your heart."
"..."
Armut, who had been staring intently at Karis for a moment, put on a mischievous smile again and teased Karis.
"Why are you so nervous? I simply wanted to hear your thoughts."
"Hmm... I am."
"Mhm?"
"I'm just a professor. I haven't thought any further than that right now, so I'm afraid I don't know."
"Hmm—I see for now."
Karis raised his head and looked straight at Armut. Armut smiled even more deeply, as if enjoying that gaze.
"What is it?"
"Eh? What?"
"I asked what your reason is for suddenly appearing, asking about some student, and even bringing up my family."
"I wonder too."
"Eh? No, if I answered your earlier question, the Dean should also..."
Armut, acting as if he were listening to Karis's words, made a fuss while looking at his wrist, which didn't even have a watch.
"Oh my! The time already! It's late, so I'll be going now. See you next time, hoo-hoo—"
Leaving those words behind, Armut sank down deeply as if his appearance until just now had been a mirage, then disappeared from the spot.
"As expected, his use of space magic is truly astounding."
* * *
Karis, having returned to his assigned research lab, brewed coffee and lay sprawled on the sofa. In his years of teaching life, this was the first time he'd had so many thoughts in one day.
A student possessing mana with a property that couldn't be felt at all, a meeting with his niece and nephew, and finally, the incomprehensible words of Dean Armut.
"But what did that last question mean?"
Asking if he was still a person of Lobnine. Could it be a remark made with Telos in mind? Could Dean Armut perhaps be a figure of Telos or something...
'No. That can't be. Telos was annihilated back then.'
However, the expression and tone that crossed Armut's face were unmistakably things that could not come from someone who didn't know something.
'Does Dean Armut really know something?'
He began to think that perhaps that fellow called Baek Iljin really was connected to a dragon. Or that he was really hiding something...
"I'll have to investigate this."