Ch.5454 – 5th Period with a Different Art Style

Monday, fifth period.

Adventurer’s Night Activities lecture hall.

“Where’s the classroom?”

“There’s not a single light on.”

“Did the professor go to sleep?”

The few students who were hesitantly wandering between the darkened barracks turned away with deeply disappointed faces.

“Let’s just go to the ‘How to Sleep Well Anywhere’ lecture instead.”

“Yeah. That classroom is closer anyway.”

“I came here because I thought there’d be too much competition for grades with so many people there… Tch. But if the lecture itself isn’t even happening, I guess we have no choice.”

Watching the students leaving after failing to find the professor, Oknodie silently wished them well in advance.

‘That lecture does teach you how to sleep in any extreme environment. Hang in there, newbies!’

If they run away and give up on the course, they’ll have nothing to show for it, but still, try to endure until the end!

‘But this lecture really is unpopular.’

Well, most students left because they couldn’t find the professor.

A tiny minority of students remained, harboring the odd expectation that perhaps they were in the right place but, true to the “Adventurer’s Night Activities” course, the lecture was being held outdoors with no lights on.

And that was correct.

*Rustle rustle*

“Huh? Did something just move in the darkness over there?”

“Turn on a light spell.”

As a familiar-looking lighting device turned on, pink light illuminated the area with an effect of swirling flower petals.

In the illuminated clearing…

A woman in white funeral clothes with long black hair hanging down like water-soaked seaweed was rising with creaking sounds.

“Kyaaaaaaah!!”

“Aaaah! T-together, let’s go together…!”

“It’s a ghost!!! So scary!!!”

“Aaaack!! I’m going to lose my mind!!!!”

“Hey, guys…? M-me too!”

“Run awaaaay!!”

“Oh come on!! It’s hard to follow with this lighting equipment—”

The students scattered in all directions screaming like a Tang dynasty army hit by a surprise attack.

A female student who had been dragging the lighting equipment behind her tripped over a rock.

The lighting device, which fell sideways, demonstrated unexpected durability by not breaking, but perhaps because a button was pressed incorrectly when it fell, the color of the light changed to red.

*Creak creak*

The black-haired woman in funeral clothes turned her head toward the fallen student, making sounds like creaking joints.

“Eek! D-don’t come near me! Do you know who my father is? He’s the mayor of the Holy City-State Federation! One of the southern city-states called the Temple of Ten Thousand Gods belongs to my father!!”

“……”

“Y-you understand? So don’t come any closer. If you do, I’ll… tell my father…”

“……”

“So… please?”

The funeral-dressed woman gave no answer.

The lighting girl was losing confidence by the second.

The woman in funeral clothes, looking down at her own clothes now dyed crimson red, looked back up at the lighting girl.

With an ominous feeling, the lighting girl shook her head, unable to even make a sound, but…

*Dash dash dash!*

“Ah.”

At the sight of the funeral-dressed woman rushing toward her, the lighting girl finally collapsed and fainted.

“Clumsy child.”

Of course, the woman in funeral clothes was not a ghost who had died in an unfortunate accident at the Academy and returned as a spirit, but the professor in charge of the “Adventurer’s Night Activities” lecture.

“…Class is starting. …Come out quickly.”

The professor straightened the lighting device and shined it into the darkness.

I was surprised when she illuminated not only the barracks where I was hiding with the <Hide> skill but even up into the trees.

“Wow. You were the professor? I thought you were a real ghost and almost attacked you out of fear.”

The masked assassin Zhang.

I encountered her in this lecture that seemed truly fitting for an assassin.

* * *

Monday, fifth period.

Professor Sadaco, who taught the “Adventurer’s Night Activities” lecture from 7 to 9 in the early evening, was a nocturnal professor with long hair and white funeral clothes.

Her body was cold and often stiff, making creaking sounds whenever she moved, and because her long hair obscured her face, she was often mistaken for a ghost.

Her popularity among students was, naturally, abysmal.

In one semester, she accidentally held a lecture at night and had zero students attend, giving her the comfortable experience of not having to teach. After that, she had an epiphany.

‘If I scare the students, I can spend my time freely without teaching.’

Enjoying the professor benefits provided by Dragon Principal without having to fulfill the obligation of teaching students—a rational free meal!

Having awakened to the mysteries of free meals, Sadaco would make *impressive* entrances every year in particularly dark forests at the eerie time of sunset to frighten students.

She thought that once the student with the lighting device woke up, she would spread rumors that would prevent even curious students from daring to come, but…

There are fearless students in this world.

Unfortunately, the 981st batch of first-year students had two such students.

“…Aren’t you. …Afraid of your professor?”

“If I could kill you, I wouldn’t be afraid! …But since I can’t kill professors, I’m actually not okay!”

“I’m just not scared.”

Zhang gave Oknodie a reproachful look through her mask, as if asking how she could tell such a blatant lie.

“…Really? You’re not afraid of me…?”

Professor Sadaco approached with creaking sounds, tilting her head at an unrealistic angle and bringing her face close to Oknodie’s.

Oknodie showed some signs of being disgusted, but also had eyes filled with expectation.

“Professor, you have a pretty voice. There’s no ugly woman with a pretty voice!”

The young one was so brazen, saying whatever came to mind.

Sadaco felt a strange antipathy.

“Do you know what my nickname is? Sadaco the Terrifying.”

Eyes revealed between the long strands of hair.

The emotion in those eyes, stained by darkness, stimulates fear like peering into the depths of human nature.

It’s an instinctive fear.

The physiological terror humans feel when facing the inhuman.

A fundamental wrongness that makes you feel something is amiss just by confronting it, making you want to scream and run away.

“The principal has a talent for gathering professors… but he also has an even bigger problem.”

Sadaco placed her pale hand on the shoulder of the student who wasn’t even as tall as her chest.

“The principal’s problem is that he doesn’t discriminate by race. And the professor before you who will teach you is an undead. A creature that defies life. A creation abandoned by god. An undead.”

“!”

“Can you feel it? The cool hand devoid of life’s warmth. Being taught by the dead might turn you into the same kind of corpse. Are you still not afraid of me?”

Zhang trembled behind her mask and said:

“I’m terrified.”

If even a child with an assassin’s gait is afraid, that says it all.

This should do it.

Another year with zero students to teach.

She could once again enjoy her peaceful night time alone.

While the undead have plenty of time to spare,

it is also in the nature of the undead to dislike having their personal peace disturbed.

Sadaco felt a pang of conscience for trying to make the child who called her pretty dislike her, but she also looked forward to regaining her tranquility.

“Does it matter?”

But Oknodie wasn’t afraid.

Instead, she responded confidently.

“As long as you teach the lecture well, that’s good enough. That Dragon Principal wouldn’t have brought in a professor who can’t teach properly, right?”

Sadaco was shocked.

Even imperial professors despised her as a lowly undead, yet this mere student boldly accepted her.

And the basis for this trust wasn’t unfounded.

She was acknowledged.

Someone sincerely expected to learn from her.

Someone expected to be taught by a being others feared to even look at.

“…This is the lecture you wanted. Say it now if you want to quit. If you disturb a dead person’s peace to learn a lecture and then quit on a whim… I will never forgive you.”

“I won’t quit. This is the lecture I want to learn most in Monday’s fifth period!”

At Oknodie’s bold declaration, Zhang, who had been about to flee, stopped and returned, grumbling.

“Then I’ll attend too.”

“You don’t have to. I can attend alone.”

“I don’t like feeling like I’m losing if I back down here.”

Sadaco smiled with a “jjeojeojeok” sound under her hair that hung down over her face at the children’s lively argument.

While she detested playing the role of professor, she had a feeling this year would be an exception.

* * *

How can a laughing sound be “jjeojeojeok”?

Even knowing what she is, she’s still scary.

I tried to act calm in front of Zhang, but I’m actually pretty nervous inside.

‘She’s definitely the visual queen in the bad sense. I thought I’d gotten used to it, but she still startles me.’

Due to her unique appearance, Sadaco was considered a fringe professor among players.

But there’s one rumor circulating about this professor.

The bare face under her bangs that she never shows to players.

The shocking twist that she might actually be an incredibly beautiful woman.

No veteran player has actually confirmed this.

Whether Sadaco’s bare face was beautiful or ugly was a kind of MacGuffin.

‘But now that this is reality, maybe I can find out?’

The undead are residents of the night.

When it comes to night activities, it’s hard to find a professor more skilled than the undead professor Sadaco.

However, the most important element of this lecture isn’t the effectiveness of the teaching.

‘I want to see Professor Sadaco’s bare face!’

Seeing the professor’s bare face before the end of the first semester.

That’s the biggest reason for attending the fifth period “Adventurer’s Night Activities” lecture!