Chapter 12: The Worst Lecture in the History of the Empire Part 3

Now that I think about it, something felt off from the start.

The person in question is a genius professor favored by the First Dragon.

Someone like that wouldn’t bring students all the way here on a mere whim without any particular reason, right?

Everyone was just too exhausted from the difficult climb to realize it, but if you think about it calmly, it’s easy to predict that there must be something special hidden in this place.

“I never would have guessed it would be the Great Leyline, though.”

One of the students muttered, sweating profusely.

From the look on his face, it was clear he still couldn’t believe the current situation, but it wasn’t something that only applied to that one boy.

Everyone, including Karen, was in complete shock at the sudden turn of events.

‘Why on earth is something like that appearing here?’

It was understandable because it was the Great Leyline.

The source of mana.

A place where all the energy of nature gathers.

A sanctuary directly blessed by the gods.

According to what Karen knew, this was the fifth Great Leyline discovered in the Empire.

And judging by the amount of energy emanating from it, this one was on an entirely different level compared to the others.

Just by harnessing the energy, one’s magical power would increase explosively.

Practicing magic here would likely boost training efficiency by more than triple, and that wouldn’t even be an exaggeration.

Having access to such a place was definitely a blessing, but Karen couldn’t understand why Riyan would take such actions.

‘Of course, it’s not like using the Great Leyline would wear it out.’

It’s human nature to want to keep something good to oneself.

Even if everyone could benefit from it, how many people would actually share it?

Yet, the professor casually revealed the location to everyone, which only added to the students’ confusion.

“Could it be… that he’s suggesting a contract? If we’re discovered, the royal family will definitely confiscate it. So he wants to privatize this place secretly with the help of our families.”

His commoner status.

He feared that the royal family would take the Great Leyline he discovered due to his lack of power.

Hence, he needed backing.

One student put forth this theory.

Sure, it was a plausible explanation, but…

“If he’s afraid the royal family will take it, why not just use it in secret by himself? That’d be much safer, wouldn’t it?”

It didn’t add up.

There was no reason for anyone to trek all the way out here to such a remote location.

If he used it quietly by himself, there wouldn’t be any risk of being discovered.

In fact, bringing other people into the mix would make it more dangerous, as the information could leak.

The professor surely wasn’t unaware of this simple fact.

Once again, the case slipped into a mystery.

A riddle with no clear answer.

Silence fell over the group of students.

“M-Maybe… it’s all just a coincidence? Maybe the professor just happened to climb the mountain without any specific plan, and there just happened to be a Great Leyline here!”

Perhaps the silence had become unbearable.

A gloomy-looking girl proposed this hypothesis, but all it earned was disdainful looks from the others.

Her assumption was so intellectually questionable that even a five-year-old could come up with a more plausible theory.

Although no one voiced their thoughts out of consideration for the black-haired girl’s dignity, everyone was inwardly sighing, thinking, ‘I can’t believe someone this clueless attends the same Royal Academy as me.’

“I’m telling you, I’ve got really good instincts. I bet the professor didn’t even know the Great Leyline was here—”

Before the girl could finish, a friend next to her clamped a hand over her mouth, pleading for her to say something more reasonable.

Even if she wasn’t smart, at least she had the luck of having good friends.

Karen quickly checked the girl’s name tag.

‘Cassandra Meyril.’

The Meyril family was renowned for producing famous prophets and witches throughout generations.

But judging by the looks of things, the family might meet its downfall in this generation.

A person who had mastered the difficult art of spatial magic.

A genius professor who single-handedly saw through the identity and plan of the spy infiltrating the academy and perfectly thwarted it.

And yet, to think that such a person would engage in these actions for no reason.

There’s a limit to nonsense.

It was so ridiculous that it evoked sympathy.

“This discussion isn’t going anywhere.”

Ignoring Cassandra’s remarks entirely, Karen spoke up.

Naturally, all eyes turned to her, but she didn’t care.

She had already planned to take the lead in this matter.

“Looks like our best bet is to ask him directly. Everyone wait here. I’ll go and find out.”

The highly talked-about, newly appointed professor.

To confront someone like that and probe for their true intentions—

It would be a lie to say I wasn’t nervous, but I originally took this course to learn more about Riyan, didn’t I?

There’s no reason to hesitate.

Karen took a deep breath and confidently moved forward.

Through what has been regarded as the worst lecture in the Empire’s history, I planned to sink the students’ morale to rock bottom.

The two directions I came up with after much thought were as follows:

One was to be criticized for negligence.

The plan was to get paid as a professor but not actually teach, leaving the students to self-study, and thus earn their resentment.

The other was to be hated by the students.

In this case, the plan was to deliberately do things that the students would despise, making plenty of enemies and getting fired.

After pondering for a long time on which to choose, I eventually thought:

‘Why not do both?’

‘And that’s how I came up with this perfect plan.’

The horrible experience of being forced to join a hiking club on a holiday came in handy this time.

I know better than anyone the agony of climbing a mountain, sweating alongside a bunch of old men, when all I wanted to do was play the new games piling up at home.

So, I decided to make the students climb a mountain.

I chose an unnecessarily grueling route, ordered them not to use magic—except for me—and made them suffer.

There’s nothing more dreadful than forced hiking.

And if they climbed all the way up here only to be told to self-study?

Even a saint would be driven to cursing.

On top of that, I threw in the infamous phrase, “It’s good to suffer while you’re young,” one of the worst sayings in Korean history.

Surely, by now, they must hate me as if I were their worst enemy.

***

-BOOM!

A deafening crash echoed in the distance.

A giant tree had fallen, pierced by a spear of ice.

The students’ venting on such a large scale was proof that their morale had indeed hit rock bottom.

At this point, it was safe to say my victory was assured.

I smiled to myself, but the situation seemed to be turning even more in my favor than expected.

Footsteps rustled from beyond the bushes.

Apparently, they were still not satisfied after felling that innocent tree.

One of the female students had decided to confront me on behalf of the group.

“What do you want? I told you all to self-study, didn’t I?”

Suppressing my smile, I muttered as rudely as possible.

The blonde girl flinched, seemingly frightened.

As expected.

Her question was exactly what I had anticipated.

“…Professor Riyan, we want to know your true intentions. Why did you bring us here?”

After all the trouble I put them through, who would be convinced if I explained that I merely wanted them to self-study in a nice, open space? Even I wouldn’t accept such an excuse.

They must be turning the gears of hope in their minds.

‘There has to be some sort of trick. There must be some hidden purpose behind the professor’s actions.’

But too bad.

I was only planning to crush those hopes.

“You came all this way just to ask me that?”

I looked at her with an expression of pure contempt.

Building up layers of dislike, I finally prepared to deliver the knockout blow to her perceptions.

Why did I make them hike up a mountain?

Why was I making them suffer like this?

The answer was obvious.

“That’s because you’re my students.”

There was no particular reason.

The suffering they were enduring was purely because they chose the wrong professor.

They should blame themselves for choosing me.

Hearing my unreasonable words, the girl’s eyes began to tremble.

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“J-Just for that reason…?”

But I, instead, looked at her calmly, as if her response didn’t make any sense.

“You are my students, so I brought you here. Do I need more of a reason than that?”

An outright declaration of senseless torment.

Tears began streaming down her cheeks.

As she collapsed helplessly onto the ground, I looked down at her and smiled wickedly.

The birth of the worst professor in the Empire’s history.