Ch.1515 – I Have a Prior Engagement

“Ughh…”

“Are you awake now?”

The girl woke up with perfect timing.

It was a bit contrived that she regained consciousness right after I defeated the wolf, but that’s how the program was designed.

Is this girl supposed to be my guide now?

“W-who are you?!”

“Why are you asking me that? Hurry and let me use magic.”

“…?”

This doesn’t seem right.

The interaction doesn’t appear to be working properly.

Feeling like I was doing something wrong, I decided to check the chat for help.

-How did you just use magic?

-???????????

-Is that a hack?

-Even the NPC seems to be lagging lol

One thing’s clear: the situation isn’t proceeding normally.

“Did you save me from the wolf, miss?”

“Yes.”

“Are you going to take the laurel from me too?”

“What laurel are you talking about?”

My question only seemed to confuse the girl even more.

-Lepi has the Laurel of Arsheria

-Originally this world is under the Dark Lord’s curse so not everyone can use mana

-But if you have the laurel, anyone can use magic without restrictions – it’s a divine object

Why did they add so many complicated settings to a simple magic experience program? It’s really annoying.

“I just want to be able to use magic.”

“So the laurel is your goal after all!”

“I don’t need some leaves.”

“This isn’t just some leaves!”

Before Lepi could get angry, we heard movement in the distance.

“There are traces over here. Search thoroughly!”

Lepi’s face turned pale as her hands began to tremble. It seemed like people tracking the laurel were catching up. I made her an offer.

“You’re running from them, right? Want me to help?”

“I’m hesitant to call you ‘miss’… but how exactly are you going to help?”

Lepi’s eyes briefly fixed on the top of my head.

Is she looking down on me because I’m shorter than her? This makes me not want to help at all.

Whatever, I don’t need this magic anyway. I could just find ten more wolves to complete the magic circle.

“Hand over the laurel.”

“I can’t do that!”

“Suit yourself.”

“Wait, don’t go! Please help me!”

Lepi handed me the item called the laurel or whatever that supposedly allows one to use magic.

[‘leviatan’ donated 1,000 won!]

-With the current laurel synchronization, you can only use the missile magic once.

The trackers were right in front of us.

-Miracle tutorial where there are 3 enemies but you can only use magic once

-Actually you don’t need to defeat all the trackers to progress in the story

-Was that it? I kept resetting for nothing

-Classic Korean gamer mentality hahaha

So I just need to show off here?

The enemies were closer than expected, but not so close that I couldn’t draw a magic circle.

“1st Circle Higher Casting: Polar Coordinate Assignment.”

I create a guided missile from scratch using the method I was taught earlier.

The reason guided missiles are 3rd Circle magic is because they’re three-dimensional spatial magic lacking the time dimension.

But I can still borrow that authority with a 1st Circle magic circle.

Since it’s just a guided missile (physical), it had no explosive capabilities.

The metal mass, powered by the laurel’s mana, struck one tracker fiercely, and as soon as one fell, it darted toward another.

SWOOOOSH KABOOM!!!

“That was easy.”

-????????

-How did you do that?????

-Are you some hook collection master? But seriously, what’s the principle?

-Tell us

-Mom why can’t I shoot guided missiles? Mom why can’t I shoot guided missiles? Mom why can’t I shoot guided missiles? Mom why can’t I shoot guided missiles?

Beep beep beep

An alarm goes off while the chat is going crazy.

Is it already time to leave?

“Sorry everyone. I have another appointment today so I’ll have to end the stream here. I’ll cancel today’s donation questions, so please send them again tomorrow and I’ll answer them then.”

* * *

[Beep! Child passenger.]

The familiar voice sounded as I tapped the disposable card.

On the surface, it’s meant to remind people that the passenger is a child and to be careful, but in reality, it’s a sophisticated device designed to publicly shame those who use it fraudulently when they’re not children.

Absolutely not because I’m embarrassed about being called a child at my age.

[Next stop: Korea University Administration Building entrance.]

The campus is quiet on weekends.

Especially in the cold of January.

I’ve never really gotten along with educational institutions.

In my first life, I couldn’t complete more than one semester, and in my previous life’s academy, I dropped out before finishing two years.

Actually, I’ve been attending elementary school alone since Arin transferred.

My name is still registered at Merlin Orphanage, so the teachers don’t seem to know the details.

There was nothing to learn and no satisfaction in attending.

Professor Cheon Kyu-jin’s lectures were more interesting, if anything.

No one noticed when I occasionally skipped school to attend his supplementary lectures, even missing lunch.

No matter how advanced technology has become in this over-technology era, they don’t put tracking devices on elementary school students.

I’ve made some friends among those attending the lectures.

College students were generally perceptive, and rather than being jealous of Professor Cheon’s favoritism toward me, many were desperate to extract whatever knowledge they could from me.

I was always happy to be the fertilizer for their grades.

After getting off the bus and walking for quite a while, I finally reached the building where the professor had set up for grade checks and claims.

I explained at the information desk that I came to check my grades in person since I wasn’t an undergraduate at this school, and also because of Professor Cheon Kyu-jin’s personal request.

Of course, I didn’t mention the former reason.

“Professor Cheon Kyu-jin… Yes! Go to room 306 on the third floor. It’s a small auditorium, so it shouldn’t be hard to find.”

Fortunately, they didn’t seem to think I was strange.

Taking the elevator to the auditorium door, I could hear noisy voices coming from inside.

Among those voices was a familiar one I’d heard in class.

Judging by how heated it sounded, they seemed to be having an intense discussion about exam questions.

“But Professor, doesn’t this formula deserve partial credit? Although it might not be what you intended, it was a necessary step in my solution process to derive the answer.”

“I understand your argument, Hoyeon. But look carefully. To derive the answer using the dimensional binomial method, you need three formulas, not two. With just these two formulas, the equation becomes indeterminate, so you can’t get a single definitive answer. You just happened to guess the correct answer. I won’t deduct points for the answer itself, but I can’t give partial credit for this solution.”

While it appeared to be a constructive exchange of opinions, the professor was making a terrifying threat that he would deduct points for the correct answer if the student didn’t agree with him.

In the end, the student, unable to find a better alternative, left the auditorium with slumped shoulders.

I sat in the front row of the auditorium, spacing out until everyone else finished their inquiries.

It wasn’t that I wasn’t thinking at all; I was absorbing the emotions—sometimes the joy of those who received points, sometimes the despair of those who lost even their existing points.

“Hello there! Who are you waiting for? Are you the professor’s daughter? Or maybe his niece?”

“Hey, don’t just talk to her like that! You’ll scare her! Just wait quietly.”

“We’re friends of that person over there, but it’s taking so long and we’re bored, so I thought I’d say hi. Is that okay?”

“I’m sorry, he’s still immature.”

A male and female student sat in the row behind me. As the female student was about to hit the male student on the head, I stopped her.

“It’s okay. I’m waiting for the professor too, but I’m not family.”

“Ah, I see. You’re really cute. What’s your name? How old are you?”

“I’m 7 years old. This is the first time we’re meeting like this, Baek Jeong-ho and Song Ga-yeon.”

“Huh? How do you know our names? Are we wearing name tags somewhere?”

While the two students were confused, the last student came down from the platform.

“You all worked hard these past two months. And, my name is NoName.”

Leaving them with expressions of surprise and shock, I went to meet the professor who had been waiting for me.

“Hello.”

I greeted the professor nonchalantly.

“What brings you here?”

“Is there any reason to come other than checking grades?”

I answered a bit mischievously while observing his reaction.

Slight bewilderment, curiosity.

But unlike others, he didn’t hastily ask questions or jump to conclusions about me.

He quietly waited for me to add something.

Indeed, I like this person.

I know it’s quite rude to test people like this, but I never managed to break this habit from the imperial court.

I’m not sure how it would be received in this world, but if I treated a duke’s minister or the commanders of the direct staff unit this way, I wouldn’t keep my head for long.

“I apologize for the late introduction. My name is NoName. I came to check my grades for the Complex Analysis class.”