episode_0022

XIX.

So it’s not that old. When I first awakened and arrived at Evergreen.

After I realized how stupid and foolish my behavior of grinning at Alfred was, I began to think that it was both an advantage and a disadvantage.

Not overestimating myself.

Because I don’t overestimate myself, I always say that I am not good enough and that I have a long way to go, but I still thought it was better than being an extra who let my guard down like an idiot and then got a heartbreaking blow and died saying, ‘Koop!’

The reason why this was judged to be not only an advantage but also a disadvantage is because cases like the present arise.

I had to think about this for quite some time, over a period of more than 15 days. The mindset of not thinking of yourself as great is the ‘what if?’ Every time the thought came into my mind, I would hit the iron wall with a resolute thought, ‘It can’t be like that.’

So, it wasn’t until yesterday, after conducting various investigations, that I was finally able to come to a conclusion, and I was convinced after seeing the dean after entrusting me with the treatment of the envoy to the Kingdom of Phoenicia a little while ago.

The later dean of Evergreen Academy. That he thinks of me as special.

‘I’m Your Father!’ from a typical makjang drama. It won’t be the same setting. They sold it in the first place. I believe there is an age difference of more than 250 years between me and him.

However, since he is not the kind of person who likes men – I sincerely hope not – I conclude that the reason he finds me special is because he wants something from me.

“Huh? Why did you think like that?”

If you just look at Dean Hu’s face, he seems like a person who really doesn’t know English.

But that made me more confident. Over the past few days, the ‘crazy’ aura that has always been floating around him has disappeared, and he is really giving off the aura of a teacher who has been asked a question by a student.

“Seclusion.”

This is the part I find most puzzling and the part I have the greatest doubts about.

Dean Hu broke his seclusion without any warning. The day after I arrived at the academy.

Of course, I made the incident a little bigger. So, we can dismiss his appearance on the day when such a commotion occurred as a ‘coincidence’ and move on.

Also, life sometimes throws this imputation report of ‘coincidence’ in front of us very often. However, I could not dismiss this as a coincidence because the target was Dean Hu.

For this part, I asked quite a few people about the period of his retirement. In particular, according to Professor Sally, one of Dean Hu’s most ardent followers, Dean Hu was someone who was active externally in the early days of Evergreen Academy.

It is said that she interacted quite frequently with the ‘Unmanned Cradle’, where she was raised as a businesswoman, and the ‘Tower of the Wise’, a mysterious group whose identity is unknown.

However, he has not been seen publicly since some time ago and has even stopped giving speeches at the entrance ceremony every year.

After that, it’s the dean. It was clearly ‘not normal’ for him to appear in front of me like that. Just looking at the fact that he appeared as if he was waiting for me to cause an accident.

“Treatment different from other candidates.”

I don’t know what kind of person he is. In the first place, I never thought that I would have anything to do with this noble and elegant place called Evergreen Academy.

For the 20 years I lived before awakening as a candidate. In the first place, Cresti is that kind of place.

However, Dean Hu provided me with extraordinary convenience. Is it simply because of his new, invisible status as a candidate?

At least, if I am of the position that I care because I am a candidate, there is someone I must meet, let alone other candidates. Even if they don’t care like I do.

“Benjamin.”

First candidate. A candidate supported by nobles. A candidate who even has a good reputation among professors.

Destroyer Benjamin de Johannes.

However, while Dean Hu reappeared and actively caused various accidents, he never once looked for Benjamin.

Instead, Benjamin requested an interview, but he flatly refused. I was with him when he rejected Benjamin’s request, and the emotion that clearly appeared on Dean Hu’s face was ‘annoyance.’

But why me?

“Excessive kindness.”

Excessive kindness for no reason. To begin with, Dean Hu is not such a ‘good grandfather’.

He provided me with many conveniences. The academy provided the best training ground, and the attempted murder that I committed within the academy, many of which were excuses and were in fact simply out of frustration, was made into self-defense.

In addition, through Alfred, he took great care of his overall life at the academy, including his clothes – in fact, it is said that none of the other candidates were met by Alfred himself – and was able to receive two high-quality spears.

Well, it wasn’t a particularly great artifact-level weapon, but it was a very high-quality weapon that was difficult to buy for money.

Above all, one day, about a week after we met, an item was thrown at me like a coin, saying, ‘I picked it up when I came.’

widely-!

I placed the items I received from him on the table.

“Lee Yeongdan. They say it’s a very good spirit.”

It is a spiritual altar. What a miracle.

It’s not the Mana that he uses as a wizard, but a spiritual altar that improves the Force, the divine power used by warriors like me who use spears. This is something that can hardly be called simply excessive kindness. Of course, my spiritual power is a bit special, so it doesn’t matter if it’s force or mana.

“Lastly, he was watching me.”

“Who?”

“Dean.”

Every time I continued to say short sentences, his face changed and he looked somewhat lonely, but he didn’t make excuses.

After asking who it was and pointing out him with confidence, he didn’t hit me and didn’t make any excuses. He just looked at me and Yeongdan back and forth with somewhat bitter eyes, and then put Yeongdan in his arms.

He spied on me.

Managed by Circle 9. I don’t think I’ll be able to escape his sight at Evergreen Academy. However, I felt a different, subtle and persistent gaze.

And the clown did not miss its true identity. Even though a lot of her abilities are currently sealed due to my poor abilities, she was once a being powerful enough to bring about the end of the dimension.

At least I had the power to figure out who the owner of this sticky gaze was.

Isn’t she an extremely lovely and attractive woman?

Anyway, Dean Hu definitely treated me ‘differently’. So special that it is incomparable to not only academy students but also candidates.

“Now, tell me. What is it?”

“Phew… … .”

“If you have a unique sexual preference for liking men, give up. Because I will never pick up soap for you.”

“Soap? what is that? No, before that, what bullshit! How great it was for me and my wife to meet Geumseul!! I also gave birth to two rabbit-like children!”

“Really? thank god. Then what is it?”

After yelling, the dean doesn’t show much emotion anymore. It’s just bittersweet that I’ve gotten close enough to know that he’s not really angry.

An uncomfortable silence falls in the dean’s office, which has been noisy for various reasons for the past few days. The clown sitting next to me was the same as before, but she had a blood-red side in her hands on her pure white knees.

A lot of time passed like that.

After saying nothing for nearly an hour, the dean and I remained silent.

“Phew… … . That’s what you said. Don’t listen to me strangely, but listen until the end. if… … . Do you believe in God?”

And after a long wait, his answer changed from calling me this bastard to that bastard and calling me ‘you’, which was very unexpected.

◈ ◈ ◈

Spacious conference room. No, I should say it is a space that looks like a conference room.

This large space was a little special. Among them, two things stood out the most.

One is that the wall, which is a mixture of white and light blue and gives a strange sense of stability, is not square, triangular, or even hexagonal, but is in the shape of a perfectly round cylinder.

Another thing is that the only furniture in the large room, reminiscent of a conference room, is six comfortable-looking large chairs in the center with their backs to each other.

“Hi Everyone!! Arm bag!”

And then the empty door burst open and the man who jumped inside came in, expressing the word ‘lively’ with his whole body. Of course, since there was no one there, there was no one to receive his lively greeting.

“What is it? Where is everyone going? Is this negligence? But I’m also excited and handsome today~ Ye~.”

The handsome, if somewhat idiotic, man was giggling to himself.

[…] pestilence. As soon as you get back from vacation, don’t be a jerk, take care of yourself properly. Before I tell the goddess of nature the cry you shouted to me before going on vacation.]

The voice that came from the ceiling was pathetic and embarrassed.

However, the man who was at his own pace moved to the chair while bobbing his head and doing a strange dance. Of course, I always answered ‘yes, yes’. No matter how sick you are, you still feel pain when you get hit.

Exactly!

A large, comfortable chair in the center of a large room. The moment he sat there and his fingers clashed together, creating a clear and cheerful friction sound.

A wall shaped like a round cylinder lights up and hundreds of playing videos appear.

Some screens focused on a specific person, some showed scenes that looked like looking down from the sky, and some showed scenes that looked like they were filming a peddler from space.

Unlike before, it was difficult to find any trace of playfulness on the face of the man who was scanning hundreds of screens one by one, as if he had made a large picture by overlapping small pictures. The man’s head, which was quickly scanning up and down the screen, suddenly stopped.

“What is it?”

When you grab the small screen and make a pulling motion, the small screen pops forward and enlarges greatly.

“Back. Further back.”

The man, who was watching the screen move backwards as if in rewind, with a serious look on his face, at one point says ‘Stop!’ and stares intently at the slowly playing screen.

“What on earth is this old man? Frustratingly, are you still in that state?”

Gray and Dean Hu appear on the screen as it passes by at double speed.

The rapidly playing screen continued to follow one person behind it. And every time, the man let out something that I couldn’t tell whether it was an appreciation or a complaint.

“Wow. Damn it? What are you doing now?”

“Just say it! and! You’re probably going to pass away because you’re frustrated.”

“No, why can’t I speak! I will raise you! I am your exclusive ‘hogu’! Why can’t I speak?”

“Wow! Who would think you were trying to confess to your first love?”

Unexpectedly, the screen he was watching and complaining about was not showing Gray, whom he had been paying attention to, but Dean Hu.

The man, who had been expressing his frustration for a long time, pushed the screen to the left. How many times did that behavior repeat itself? This time, different characters appear on the screen.

The wide-enlarged screen showed a happy-looking family. A family of three sitting at a steaming table. A father who smiles brightly and a mother who smiles with a kind smile. And even a cute little daughter.

“In a situation like this, are you in a position to do anything? That inspiration too… … . Is it useless pride?”

A man who speaks as if he is pathetic. If so, it means that there is something wrong with the screen in front of you. When you look at it again, the screen shows a harmonious family, with smiles never ending on the couple’s lips, and the daughter smiling innocently.

“… Or is it being considerate in this situation? For Gray?”

The man clicks his tongue with an expression of complete incomprehension and then turns his attention to the screen again.

The screen is enlarged and brightly shining.

The three families inside looked ‘consistently’ harmonious.

“Huh… … . This old man. I really like it. Are you a tsundere? Who do you look very similar to? !”

Crumbling!!!

An unexpected bolt of lightning came down and struck the left side of the man who muttered that with a boy-like smile. In a room with all four sides blocked.

[Stop talking nonsense, work is delayed. Hurry. Because the ‘remnants’ have also started to move.]

“Yes. Yes. Oh, by the way, how is our Gray doing?”

[doing well. Much more than I thought.]