Ch.27Chapter 2. The Legendary Librarian Legend (1)

Four days after the entrance ceremony, Thursday.

I’m working as a librarian, which fits my assigned job. During work hours, I read novels borrowed from upstairs, and after work, I spend my time reading comics.

There’s no deadline for my given mission.

At least not on the surface.

The boss’s mission for me was to seduce a capable woman, and such missions are typically carried out with a long-term perspective.

I’ve been at Sejong Academy for barely a month, so I can’t exactly catch a woman and ask her to join The Syndicate in such a short time.

I just need to observe calmly for at least a year and convince promising “heroines” to join The Syndicate.

Even if they’re not heroines, it would be good to bring people with bright futures to our side from among the extras—or future supporting characters—like Ymir.

In that sense, I’m slowly checking the list of new students through the library’s book lending program.

But.

‘What’s this?’

I kept checking the student list registered in the database.

When I first checked, I just passed it off as nothing, but during my second check, I suddenly realized something was seriously wrong.

The protagonist is missing.

There’s no one among the new male students who could be identified as the protagonist.

The name of the protagonist I remember isn’t there!!

Thinking he might have changed his name or used an alias, I manually copied down all the names from the library checkout program. Then I worked overtime at home, searching through the Korean Hero Association and private hero wiki databases, but still couldn’t find anyone who could be the protagonist.

‘He’s supposed to be a Korean living abroad with a decent E-rank ability—why isn’t he here?!’

Most of the people I investigated had clean backgrounds, and none matched the protagonist’s background setting.

‘This is driving me crazy.’

Could the original setting have changed?

Could the setting of being Korean from abroad have changed from the country I knew to another country?

Or maybe he’s enrolling next year instead of this year?

Or perhaps he didn’t enroll in the academy at all this year?

My head started to ache because the target who should be here was missing from the very beginning.

It’s like infiltrating a place to carry out an assassination mission that determines the fate of the world, only to find that the target never showed up at the place they were supposed to be.

‘I’m really going insane.’

Where in the world does this kind of thing happen?

‘How can an academy light novel not have an academy protagonist? That makes no sense!’

I wanted to cry. I investigated and re-investigated the protagonist until my illusionary chicken got cold, but ultimately there were no results.

I thought about checking each male student individually, but when I counted, the number was substantial.

The number of male freshmen who entered the academy this year is about 100.

Originally, this number should have been smaller, but due to the appearance of a certain woman, the number of enrollees increased more than usual.

-I entered the academy to see Snow White! Nothing else matters!

It’s not just women who enrolled to see Snow White.

Many men also chose to enroll just to see Snow White, and in fact, a secret Snow White fan club of sorts has already started operating within the Sejong Island internal community.

The membership has already exceeded 1,000, and all kinds of photos and videos of Snow White are being uploaded there under the name of “fandom.”

-Guys, Snow White coming out of her dorm looks divine TT

-Can you see her back view when she’s holding chalk at the podium? Her hip line is just…

ㄴThe Seven Dwarfs are watching you^^

-Looks like Snow White is having a dinner meeting at this restaurant tonight? All professors gathering OMG

Thanks to this, I could know Snow White’s every move without having to investigate.

‘I wish I could know the protagonist like this.’

How nice would it be if someone could tell me the protagonist’s every move from dawn to night, just like with Snow White.

Assassination isn’t an easy task.

Even with accurate information, assassination is difficult.

But I can’t even complete the first step of assassination—identifying the target—so I can’t help but feel anxious.

‘Stay calm.’

It’s not even been a week since the first semester started in March.

Whether through mid-term transfer, seasonal semester enrollment, or in some other form, he will appear at the academy.

-What’s your purpose for coming to the academy?

-I can’t tell you that.

-Why? You didn’t just come to study, right? Tell me the real reason, not the superficial one.

-That… I’ll tell you when the time comes. Why I came to Sejong Island.

Because he has a purpose that must be accomplished at the academy.

‘But the novel ended abruptly before that was revealed.’

When a novel ends without resolving plot points, people praise them as MacGuffins, but MacGuffins are only MacGuffins when the work becomes a masterpiece.

Plot points like this in an abruptly ended work are just unresolved plot points.

They’re of no help to me right now.

Why would the protagonist enter the academy with that ability?

To pretend to have low ability, almost no ability, and then reveal his hidden power?

To seduce any woman at the academy and become her sugar daddy?

Or does he genuinely want to learn something at the academy?

As long as he has a real purpose beyond his publicly stated reason, the protagonist will definitely appear at the academy.

But what if that purpose could be achieved elsewhere, without necessarily needing to be at the academy?

“……Hah.”

My head is getting complicated.

Just the fact that someone who should be here isn’t creates too many factors to consider.

The only variable I can think of is my activity as the Goblin for the past half year, but would the protagonist give up coming to the academy because of that?

That’s an absurd butterfly effect.

It would make more sense if the protagonist died in an accident while I was active as a villain, or if he committed suicide due to the snowball effect of my villain activities.

If this continues, I’ll never know where the protagonist is.

‘Should I just tell the boss everything and ask for help?’

I’m worried it might increase the unstable elements, but the boss would definitely help me.

But then my life would be mortgaged to the boss.

My life is already half-mortgaged to the boss, but if I tell her I’m a transmigrator, she’ll definitely capture me and make me a “writer.”

-Spit out all the creative works from your world. Now!

-You were a reader in your past life? Don’t you know all readers are potential writers?!

-Synopsis, plot, whatever, just spit it out now! All kinds of stories from a world without this world’s superpowers!

-I brought a novel writing guide. From now on, you’ll write 30,000 characters a day. What? How can you write 30,000 characters? Well, if you type at 300 characters per minute, you can write 30,000 characters in 100 minutes a day! Why are you saying that without even trying? Just try it first!

She would make me regurgitate all the creative works from my original Earth.

Like Scheherazade who had to tell all kinds of stories in One Thousand and One Nights, I might have to recite stories from my original world for her.

Stories that don’t exist in this world.

‘If I can’t find him by summer, then I’ll ask for help.’

The deadline is the second semester.

If I can’t find the protagonist by the second semester—after the “summer camp” when the Goblin starts rampaging in earnest and The Syndicate’s Four Heavenly Kings start being seriously targeted—

I will humbly admit my incompetence and ask the boss for help.

‘Where is the protagonist not appearing from?’

It would be really nice if he suddenly appeared saying “I’m the protagonist”—

“…Huh?”

“Hello?”

Across the desk, a woman with a familiar face was smiling brightly at me.

“So you work here, Teacher Do.”

“I mentioned I work at the library, but I didn’t expect you to visit, Student Ymir.”

Ymir has come.

Setting aside my complicated thoughts about men for a moment, I greeted her with a kind smile as a librarian.

“Did you come to borrow a book?”

“No. I came to see you, teacher?”

“…Me?”

“Yes. I heard you paid for the restaurant bill.”

Is she here because she feels indebted?

“That was just what I had to do. No matter how chaotic things got, when someone suddenly disappears, someone else will naturally try to find them, right?”

“……Ah.”

Ymir’s expression stiffened momentarily.

She probably understood what I wanted to say as the Goblin.

-A hero who hides their identity and transforms at the scene might have their identity revealed if they suddenly appear and disappear.

If Ymir is smart, she’ll understand my meaning even in such casual conversation.

“…I’ll keep that in mind, teacher.”

“No need to take it so seriously.”

I answered with a light shrug.

“So did you really come to see me?”

“Yes.”

Ymir took something out of her bag.

“Would you like a coffee? I have a free period.”

It was convenience store coffee.

……A Starbucks latte in a glass bottle (500ml)?

‘What’s her angle?’

This seems too much for a simple gesture.

“Thank you. I’ll enjoy it. And don’t worry about the restaurant bill.”

“Um, if you’re not busy, I’d like to ask something.”

“What is it?”

“……Do you have any books about clothing?”

“Clothing?”

“Yes.”

Ymir’s expression somehow seemed genuinely sincere.

“Preferably about hero costumes.”

It seems.

She’s planning to abandon the Platinum Lady Knight concept.