Chapter 1: The audacity of a darkling at the academy?

If you’re a working person, you’ve probably imagined it at least once.

A perfect company where the salary is so high it sounds like a joke, with top-notch treatment and benefits,

where there are no monstrous individuals forcing you to join mountain climbing groups on holidays.

Of course, a dream job is as rare as a unicorn.

Thinking about it realistically, the chances of encountering such a place in reality are almost zero.

Unless a miracle happens, there will never be an opportunity to work in such a place.

…But then a miracle happened.

The old man I helped without a second thought turned out to be an enormous figure, or perhaps that grandpa looked favorably upon me and gave me a golden opportunity.

I managed to seize that opportunity by sheer luck.

A series of coincidences led me to finally obtain it.

The dream job that was once a mere fantasy.

Now, I no longer have to worry about making a living.

My annual salary has nearly multiplied thirty-fold, and my social status has skyrocketed.

Perhaps because all worries have vanished, my steps are light, even on what should be a painful commute.

Having arrived at my dream job, I found myself declaring,

“I absolutely cannot be a professor with my qualifications! I must cancel my appointment immediately!”

I was submitting my resignation to the HR officer.

And it hadn’t even been thirty minutes since I arrived.

“……What on earth are you talking about? You want to quit? The position of academy professor? On your very first day?”

The HR officer looked at me in disbelief.

Even though they had checked to see if I was under a curse or brainwashing spell, they still seemed to doubt my mental state.

Well, I suppose it’s a natural reaction.

A dream job where one is respected by everyone and receives the best treatment.

It would be stranger if someone seemed sane while intending to quit such a position after just one day.

However, my will was firm.

And no wonder, because I had just recalled it.

The memories of my previous life.

A life as an office worker in South Korea, spending time reading web novels for fun.

And my instincts as a reader were warning me.

‘This is definitely an academy setting.’

I hadn’t reincarnated into an ordinary fantasy world.

No, I was in a world from a novel, specifically from an academy-themed web novel.

The school that children attend is treated with an unusual level of importance and wields immense power, and the principal is a polymorphed beautiful dragon.

With this much evidence, it’s impossible to deny it.

I have read enough works that I don’t even know which one this is, but it’s definitely an academy setting.

However, this creates a problem.

A huge problem that I cannot overlook.

‘I’m going to get caught up in it. I’ll definitely get caught up in it and end up dying.’

Terror?

That’s a theme you can’t overlook in an academy setting.

An infiltrating demon?

That’s now just a necessary element.

An ultimate boss obsessing over a school that children attend?

That’s a long-standing tradition since the days of the noseless Voldy.

‘This is more like a magical realm than a school.’

What good is good treatment?

In the end, it would be useless if I died. In that sense, this is the worst of the worst workplaces.

Therefore.

“I absolutely cannot take on the position of a professor.”

I declared that in a firm tone, conveying my determination not to stand in the center of events without prior knowledge of the original story.

And the HR officer who heard my words said,

“Understood. Please wait a moment.”

They accepted my resignation without any complaints.

Naturally, my face turned to confusion.

In a situation where it wouldn’t be strange to spill complaints about how my unexpected whim would throw off the academic schedule, or even ask if I intended to inconvenience the saintess and the second princess, who would be enrolling this year.

Is it normal to accept my resignation so nonchalantly?

I thought I was lucky and relieved.

But…….

‘This is way too strange.’

When I looked at her closely again, there was a clear hint of suspicion in her eyes.

It seemed she was trying to manipulate something under the desk to send an emergency signal.

Naturally, my mind raced quickly.

‘…Come to think of it.’

What I’m wearing right now is a custom suit provided by the Empire.

It’s a high-end item close to an artifact, with the Empire’s unique magic engraving technology applied without reservation.

Additionally, on the back of my left hand is a spatial inscription provided by the Empire.

This is also an incredibly valuable item that cannot be easily quantified.

Two months ago, I had received countless spells from the Empire’s court magicians during my training.

Furthermore, those spells are exclusively held by the Imperial Royal Family, offered only as an exception to academy professors.

Yet, having thoroughly taken advantage of those benefits and received various important information from the academy as a professor, I notified them on my first day of work.

“I’m resigning effective today.”

…A spy.

No longer any doubt; a foreign spy.

An agent aiming to steal the Empire’s non-tactical spells and secrets.

I would surely lose my head without even a chance to explain myself.

Having grasped the situation, my judgment was swift.

I immediately began to construct a spell.

Placing my hand on the HR officer’s shoulder, I opened my mouth to suggest,

“I didn’t come here abruptly to say anything strange. I merely inquired about the location of the exam hall since the entrance exam is about to begin.”

Not as a professor, but as an ordinary low-level office worker.

Moreover, her exhausted mind, weighed down by heavy work, was easily swayed by my mediocre spell.

She gave me the location of the exam hall with a dazed expression, even adding a kind suggestion that I should leave quickly if I didn’t want to be late.

‘I’m really going crazy.’

I didn’t want to go.

Whether it was the entrance exam or acting as an interviewer, I wanted to throw it all away and run away.

That was my honest feeling, but if I truly fled from here, it would be the perfect action to be labeled as a spy.

In the end, I had only one option left.

***

……I trudged toward the exam hall.

The final entrance exam for the Imperial Academy.

As I sat here as an interviewer, after much deliberation, I reached a conclusion.

Termination.

Perhaps that would be the optimal measure.

It seemed highly suspicious for me to kick this good position away myself.

But what if I were discovered to have a flaw and the academy decided to expel me?

They might take various measures to prevent information leaks, but they wouldn’t take my life.

I could enjoy the rest of my life in peace.

However, the problem was…

‘I have no idea what I could do to get fired naturally.’

To be blunt, if I caused a knife fight right now, I could get fired immediately.

But that’s a definite no-go.

Trying to get fired in such an unnatural way would only raise more suspicion.

Wouldn’t it be too obvious that I was intentionally trying to mess things up?

I needed to create a major problem big enough to get fired while ensuring the process didn’t feel awkward enough to raise suspicion.

Meeting both of those two conditions at once was not easy.

Underestimating the situation would be foolish.

…Maybe I should consider other methods.

My thoughts were swirling as my worries increased.

Sighing and pressing my forehead, I suddenly felt a sharp gaze on me from the side.

“Cough.”

An old professor glared at me and cleared his throat.

The final interview was in full swing, and he shot me a look that said, “What ridiculous thoughts are you having instead of focusing?” That look was a sharp rebuke.

It had only been 30 minutes since I fell down the stairs and remembered my past life.

If I could remain calm, wouldn’t that be even more unnatural?

But saying that would only earn me the label of a madman.

So, I decided to swallow my sigh and go along with his rhythm.

“Candidate 12, please come in.”

I didn’t think I could fully concentrate on the interview in such a situation.

But I could at least throw out some appropriately pretentious questions.

As I thought that, I looked at the student who entered…

And I was momentarily speechless.

I felt my pupils dilate naturally.

The student who entered wasn’t a significant figure like a princess or a saint, nor was he a character I recognized from a story.

I realized something.

The one and only clever trick to achieve my goal.

There was no need to hesitate.

With my life on the line, it would be foolish to weigh my conscience against it.

I stood up abruptly.

Naturally, all eyes were on me.

But I didn’t care about those gazes; I frowned, wearing a look of disgust as if I couldn’t believe the situation.

I spoke with contempt.

“Do you have the audacity to apply to our academy, you cotton-picking brat, without even knowing your place?”

A severely inhumane remark.

In an instant, everyone’s face turned pale with shock.

In the Imperial Academy, which promotes equality, there would hardly be another professor who would utter such words throughout Imperial history, so it was only natural to react this way.

“Have you lost your mind? What kind of nonsense….”

The old professor scolded me again.

But I wouldn’t be cowed here.

Instead, I boldly scolded him back.

“In my view, it’s you lot who are out of your minds.

You truly intend to let such a grotesque creature into the academy?”

At that, the Elven professor emitted an ominous aura.

If I didn’t shut up right now, he would threaten to silence me directly.

But I didn’t stop.

The newly hired professor turned out to be an extreme racist.

So he was fired.

What could be a more perfect scenario than that?

I would surely escape from here smoothly without raising any suspicions of being a spy.

“I’m disappointed. I had a bit of expectation since you are a professor of the prestigious Imperial Academy, but in the end, you’re all just a bunch of low-level humans.”

I spat out a statement filled with a sense of superiority.

With that, I would have maximized the dislike stack I could build against the faculty.

Now all that was left was to finish it.

I pointed at the black boy and shouted,

“Get out of here right now, you ugly thing! Did you really think you could hide your vicious nature in front of me?”

My voice boomed loud enough to be heard outside the interview room.

At this point, it was already a guaranteed termination.

I could hear the sound of tears dropping to the floor, and I felt a twinge of conscience for pressing the child too hard.

But it was something I had to do to survive.

After all, he had scored highly, and regardless of the interview results, he was already guaranteed to pass.

I thought I should also keep a little something for that friend after getting fired and seeping up gold coins with modern knowledge cheats.

As I thought that, I looked at the boy.

However… something felt off.

The boy wasn’t crying at all.

What fell to the ground wasn’t tears but cold sweat dripping from him.

The clearly agitated black boy.

Suddenly, a pair of horns sprouted from his head.

Distinctly revealing red eyes.

Black wings, ominous and torn, unfolded from his back.

The boy, no, the demon shouted in shock,

“How on earth did you uncover my true identity!”

So then…

Something was going very, very wrong.