Chapter 24 : The Secret of the Professors

“Oh-ho, I thought you were nothing but meek, but it seems you have a surprisingly resolute side,Contractor. 

Well, with orcs, betrayal is second nature whenever they get the chance—so I suppose this level of restraint is necessary.”

“The being in question became an evil spirit after accumulating wicked karma long before it was ever an orc. 

I’d like to apply a stronger shamanic seal, but… it seems Mr. Kim Sunghoon wants to harness even the wicked power it possesses.”

“Th-this makes no sense! I, Orkula, who inherited the blood of an ancient vampire, am now completely, involuntarily submitting to the commands of a lowly human like you? I’ve never seen or heard of mind control magic like this!”

“Shut it. 

Those two spirits over there are your seniors, so you better treat them with proper respect. 

If they want you to play chess, you play chess. 

If they want a sparring partner, you spar. 

And if you try even the slightest funny business, I’ll drag you off to the Order of the Pure Dawn and have you exorcised. Got it?”

Having sealed a clearly unfair contract with an evil spirit, I made sure to establish the hierarchy before exiting the inner world of the Stigma.

Then I immediately borrowed Orkula’s power to cast a Rank 1 blood magic spell: Blood Nail.

As a small cut formed at my fingertip, blood-red nails sprouted forth.

With this, I could swing them like claw-shaped weapons or fire them like throwing darts.

Blood Nail was already infamous among Rank 1 spells for its high cost-effectiveness.

Now imagine using that same Blood Nail at half the mana cost—it was practically a passive skill at that point.

Of course, keeping it active all day would probably cause some mild anemia… but still.

‘Compared to before—when I was basically powerless—this is a huge step forward. But still, it’s not enough.’

My desperation to grow stronger wasn’t because I wanted to get a good ranking in the upcoming Summer Martial Tournament.

Like I’ve said before, I planned to forfeit as soon as the match began and get knocked out during prelims.

No, I was seeking power because of the time I almost died during the school trip—when I faced a Grade 2 Devil Doll, the human-faced fish.

That experience taught me a painful truth: going all-in on Iris had its limits. 

I needed to at least be able to protect myself if I wanted to plan for the future.

So even though it was getting late, I was just about to head to the academy when I sensed movement outside and quickly dove into my Matrix bed.

“So this is the student’s dorm? Surprising—it doesn’t even have a protective barrier.”

“See? I told you—this guy’s a dropout even Principal Dragos gave up on. There’s no need to make a fuss, Shiroko.”

“Roshi, you hopeless idiot. What were you thinking handing over the Book of Evil Spirits to a regular student? What? You say it was for the student’s sake? Bullshit! How much longer do I have to play along with your reckless antics?”

“Whoa, whoa, calm down, Shiroko. You’re being way too loud. What if the guy inside hears you?”

Uh, excuse me? 

This place has terrible soundproofing, so I can hear everything, you know?

It seemed like Professor Shiroko was having a conversation with someone named Roshi, but then she just waltzed right into the house without even knocking.

And the moment she saw me already lying on the bed, she immediately cast a Sleep Curse. 

Unlike the Curse of Temptation from before, this one hit me with an overwhelming wave of drowsiness I couldn’t resist—so I hurriedly activated my Constellation Awareness.

Thanks to that, I caught a glimpse of Professor Shiroko hastily retrieving the Book of Evil Spirits, though the person called Roshi was nowhere to be seen—not even a shadow.

“Thank goodness. It looks like the evil spirit contract hasn’t been made yet.”

“It auto-binds as soon as you flip just one page! You left it lying around just ‘cause you were scared of that? What a damn coward.”

“Shut your mouth! Roshi, from now on, you’re limited to borrowing my body for only one hour a day. Got that?”

“Eeeeh? Then what’s the point of living? Might as well put on a naked fountain show in front of the students and—Aaaagh! Ack!! S-sorry! I’m sorry, Shiroko unnie, I was wrong! Please stop!”

I watched as Professor Shiroko strangled her own neck with her hands, cursing herself, and honestly—it was grotesque to witness.

But even if it was disturbing, I could still understand what was happening.

It wasn’t that Professor Shiroko had split personalities—it was that two actual souls were residing in the same body.

Long story short, here’s the quick summary: a girl named Roshi, her younger sister, once went through the entrance ceremony at Pantheon and ended up chosen by a constellation called “Nameless God 2205.”

It was a situation pretty similar to how I got involved with Iris… except the difference was that “Nameless God 2205” was an evil god that exploited its contractors.

To put it bluntly, it was like falling victim to a cult. 

In the end, Roshi offered her own body as a sacrifice, and had Professor Shiroko not managed to preserve her soul just in time, she would’ve completely ceased to exist.

Anyway, after finishing what was essentially self-harm-level discipline of her younger sister, Professor Shiroko placed a book in the exact spot where the Book of Evil Spirits had been. 

The cover looked exactly the same, but the thickness was subtly different. 

Then, she hurriedly fled the dorm room like she was escaping the scene of a crime.

“…Is she gone?”

Using the Constellation’s vision, I confirmed that Professor Shiroko had completely left the premises, and then returned to my body.

The effects of the Sleep Curse were still lingering, and my eyelids felt like they weighed a ton, but I somehow managed to crawl out from under the bed. 

When I inspected the book that Shiroko had left behind, I saw that it had been swapped out for a regular black magic textbook.

And not just any textbook—it was one personally annotated by Professor Shiroko herself.

This… could spark controversy in a whole different way.

Of course, I already knew everything in it, but if a regular student studied using this black magic textbook, they’d practically be guaranteed a perfect score.

No, wait. 

If I use this black magic textbook, it’ll actually make it more believable for me to score 100 on the midterms or finals.

During pop quizzes, I’d purposely answer some questions wrong to avoid drawing attention, since those scores didn’t count toward my actual grades.

But once we passed the “weed out the slackers” phase and only the students seriously interested in studying black magic were left, I wouldn’t make it into the top 30% by holding back like that.

So I carefully took the textbook and shoved it under my bed, then immediately headed for the Academy.

It was late at night, but here and there I could still see lit-up professor offices where people were working late on research.

One of those was the office of Professor Parkelas, who specialized in insect arts. 

Of course, it would normally be extremely rude for a student—not even a teaching assistant—to visit a professor at this hour, but I boldly stepped into his room.

As expected from a professor who studied insects, his office was filled with various insect specimens, but compared to the bugs from Earth, they were so massive it was downright horrifying.

“Hello, Professor Parkelas! I’m Kim Sunghoon, a student who’s always admired you very much!!”

“Ugh, you startled me! W-Who the heck are you? Why are you here at this hour? Didn’t you see the ‘No Entry’ sign?”

“It was too dark to see. More importantly, I want to learn Insect Arts one-on-one from you, Professor Parkelas.”

“W-What kind of nonsense is that, showing up in the middle of the night asking to learn Insect Arts? 

My Insect Arts class got canceled this semester due to low enrollment. 

So just aim for next semester. 

And hey, I am a professor, you know? 

If you don’t follow my instructions, you could be penalized.”

“I see. So if I disobey Professor Parkelas’s instructions, I might be disciplined. Then what kind of punishment do you think one would receive for disobeying Headmaster Dragos?”

“W-What are you talking about? Who disobeyed Headmaster Dragos’s orders?”

“On the third day of the school trip. 

Chief Instructor Maxim called all the instructors to Albatross, saying he wanted to give students some time to themselves. 

So when a Grade-2 Devil Doll appeared, the responsibility for not protecting the students fell entirely on Chief Instructor Maxim. 

But what if, at that time, there had been a supervisor not at Albatross, but in the Hermit’s Flooded Forest? 

And what if they didn’t notice the attack on the students because they were too busy collecting bugs as a personal hobby… mmph!”

“W-Wait! I was wrong! I’ll do anything, just please pretend you don’t know about that incident!”

Parkelas came running over in a panic, abandoning his insect observation, and covered my mouth with his hand.

“Environments like the Hermit’s Flooded Forest, where human access is extremely restricted, are rare. 

I was only observing out of curiosity. 

If I had known a Devil Doll appeared, I would’ve dropped everything and returned to the camp. 

I swear I didn’t knowingly ignore it.”

“Yes. 

I understand, I do. 

I know how passionate you are about insect research, Professor Parkelas. 

That’s why… please share some of that passion with me. 

The truth is, I’m on the verge of expulsion because of my low grades. 

Isn’t there a bug that even a beginner could handle, but could easily take down something like a Grade-3 Devil Doll?”

“S-Such things don’t exist. The more dangerous a minion is, the harder it is to control. That’s not just true for Insect Arts—it’s a universal trait of all summoning disciplines.”

“I see. That’s unfortunate. But since it’d be unfair for me to be the only one expelled… I guess I’ll have to drag you down with me, Professor Parkelas. Do you happen to know where Headmaster Dragos’s home is?”