episode_0015

Academy Library 3rd floor, office.

“This is Manager Do Ji-hwan, who started working as a librarian from today. Greetings.”

“Hello, thank you for your attention.”

I said hello, but the response was cold.

I think I knew from the start that the atmosphere wasn’t welcoming.

“I’ll introduce you to everyone later, so let’s go out first.”

The library director who introduced me took me outside with a sour look on his face.

Crash.

After locking the door to the director’s office, he whispered softly while checking the eyes of others who might not know.

“Sorry.”

“Word.”

“Yes?”

“Comfortably.”

The bald director treated me with respect, but I immediately warned him.

“What do you mean, do it comfortably?…”

“Behave like a professional. Fit to your seat. Suitable for the situation.”

When I furrowed my eyebrows and gave a warning, the director finally realized what I wanted to say.

“Keu, keuhm. I’m sorry…I’m sorry. I’m out of my mind these days.”

The director cleared his throat, fanning his face with his hand.

“I am Baek Ok-gi, the library director. I have served as the library director ever since the academy opened a library.”

“You’ve been working for a long time.”

“Okay. And the reason why my reaction to you is so cold is because I think you are my parachute.”

“I understand.”

If it’s a parachute, there’s nothing you can do.

In the past, others would have had to go through difficult exams to get in, but there is no way that someone who came into the vacant position through personal connections would look good.

In reality, it was an executive-level talent from a group known as goblins who came in under the guise of being a librarian.

“This library consists of a total of 5 floors. 3 floors above ground, 2 floors underground. The place you will be in charge of is the library on the second basement floor.”

“It seemed like the stairs went all the way to the third basement level?”

“The 3rd basement floor is a preservation library. This is where books that need to be discarded are stored. The first and second basement floors are a general study, and the first and second floors above ground are a reading room. The third floor serves as a book cafe and office.”

“Am I going down to the basement then?”

“Okay. I guess I’ll have to work underground for a while. Originally, it was right for me to take my predecessor’s position, but my predecessor was a somewhat higher-ranking person.”

“Didn’t I come in at the same level?”

“That’s right. However, it is difficult to easily ignore that this is a seniority order. Especially in spaces where the connection with the outside world is cut off, like Sejong Island.”

“I understand.”

In other words, I was placed in the most difficult space, unable to spend time and see sunlight.

“What should I do then?”

“Have you ever worked as a librarian before?”

“Yes.”

I have been learning.

Before coming to Sejong Island, I spent a week learning the work of a librarian at a small library in Busan with the help of a member of the association staff.

“If you follow the manual, I don’t think there will be any major problems.”

“Okay. Well, there will be very few people going in and out of the second basement floor. Most of the books on the second basement floor are about science, technology, and arts and physical education.”

“……Yes?”

for a moment.

“Well, wasn’t there ‘general literature’ books in the area I would be in charge of?”

“It should have been that way. But it got a little complicated. General literature books are spread out on the first and second floors, but they are no longer in your charge. It is also a place where you have to deal with a lot of people.”

“Huh….”

“Think positively. Except for those who come to write papers or such, there are very few people who visit the area you are responsible for.”

The library has something called a classification number.

This refers to dividing books into easy-to-classify categories, with the first number from 000 to 900 appropriate for the subject of the book.

The area numbers I was in charge of were 400 Natural Sciences, 500 Technical Sciences, and 600 Arts.

The books I was targeting are all placed in the 800s, and they are concentrated on the 1st and 2nd floors above ground, not the 2nd basement floor, which I am in charge of.

“Is the reason you came here to look at the books here?”

“There is that too.”

All kinds of novels that cannot be seen outside.

The reason why you can’t see it from the outside is because the novels inside are ‘teaching materials’ for those who have awakened their real abilities in this world.

For example, there is a novel called ‘Dragoon of Red Flame’.

It is literally a novel about a dragoon who uses red flames.

This novel, which was published as a paper book at a rental store, was erased from existence and became a novel that exists only within the academy.

Why is it treated as a banned book?

That’s because the main character in this novel uses abilities very similar to those of a Korean A-level psychic named ‘Scarlet Dragoon’.

Naturally, the precedence relationship was reversed.

Scarlet Dragoon was so absorbed in the novel that he used the skills of the main character in Red Flame Dragoon as his own skills, and when he showed Class A qualities, the government immediately collected all of the novel and placed it in the academy.

Everyone outside knows it.

It’s not that his existence has been erased or anything, and even on the hero wiki, it clearly states that ‘the origin of this hero’s abilities lies in the Drake of the Red Flame.’

However, the reason why I collected all the novels was to prevent some kind of situation.

To hide Scarlet Dragoon’s skills.

To hide Scarlet Dragoon’s weakness.

To prevent people from finding information about Scarlet Dragoon through novels.

As the original author, it may be unfair that the work he worked so hard to write has suddenly been sealed by the government, but such complaints tend to disappear before the name ‘Patriotic Pension’.

Is there a hero in my novel who uses this ability as a motif?

It is said that the author who creates the ‘original work’ of hero abilities receives at least 5 million won per month as a pension from the government, depending on the hero level.

So, all kinds of literature is pouring out of this world.

Success as a writer is success, but in this world where human imagination is closely related to the expression of one’s abilities, one can live a life worthy of a building owner’s life as long as one is chosen by a hero.

An era where imagination becomes power.

That’s this world.

And this library is like an infinite treasure trove of imagination.

…In that sense, being sent to the second basement floor, which was filled with only content related to natural sciences rather than humanities, was like being exiled to a place that was significantly outside the main stream of this world.

It’s sad, but this is reality now.

In this world, humanities that can stimulate human imagination are ‘main stream’.

“I think I’ll have to stay underground for a while. I’m sorry. Sooner or later…”

“It’s okay. that. No matter how much you call yourself a librarian.”

I pointed downstairs.

“Can’t you just borrow a book?”

like that.

I became a librarian who was not welcomed by everyone.

* * *

About a week since I started working.

Less than 100 people visited the second basement level of the library each day.

100 people may seem like a lot, but considering that 2,000 people come and go every day on the first and second floors and in the humanities corner, this place is just heaven.

‘There really are a lot of students going there.’

I was able to find out which people borrow a lot of books by observing that many humanities books are rented through the computer lending program.

Most of them are academy students.

They all read novels to improve their abilities.

And by reading novels that were the basis of seniors’ abilities, they gain indirect experience and develop strength.

‘It’s terrible.’

A novel should be viewed not as a novel, but as something like ‘the essence of extraordinary ability.’

It’s so pitiful that it brings tears to my eyes.

My condolences to the poor people who cannot enjoy content as content.

I just took out the borrowed book to look at it while no other users came in.

And I had to put it back in as soon as I took it out.

“Return it.”

A woman putting a book on the return table in front of me.

She was a foreigner with red hair, and I stood up, taking the book from the woman who was smiling at me.

“How did you find out?”

“Because I am the one who helped you a lot in getting here. I am higher than the library director.”

“Indeed.”

I asked carefully, scanning the barcodes on the books one by one.

“Where do you belong?”

“Why? Will you make your own ‘Hundred Ghosts’?”

“I’m scared that someone will hear.”

“Oh my, is there something you’re scared of? are you okay. No one comes to a place like this. In the first place, there was no way I would bring this up out loud in a situation where I was likely to get caught by someone else.”

The woman took out a business card from her purse and handed it to me.

“Risarah Lakshmi. I’m a professor at Sejong Academy.”

“Ugh.”

“…What is that reaction?”

“I have an allergy to the mention of a professor.”

“What is it? Have you ever worked as a graduate student?”

“Similar.”

Before being possessed, I was just a graduate student.

“Anyway, it’s fun. I never thought the head of the company would put you in here himself, not someone else. Was it a coincidence? Beautiful women from all over the world gathered together.”

“That’s probably not true.”

It’s inevitable.

“Once the academy semester starts, I won’t be able to come here often. So, let me tell you in advance. I don’t want to give up my professorship because my true identity is revealed for no reason. So please take care of me, Villain Executioner.”

“Are you telling me to handle it properly without letting my identity be discovered?”

“Similar. I’ll look forward to it. How many girls will you seduce? And that’s because I came in as a librarian, not as a student, teaching assistant, or instructor.”

“You can look forward to it.”

I reached out to Professor Lisa.

“It is a fantasy country rule that the librarian is the strongest.”

Ding dong ding dong.

The first semester of the academy has begun.