Chapter 38
Chapter 38
Academy’s Gumiho is a Magic Genius – Chapter 38
For the students, the worst week had finally come to an end.
Thanks to the news of clearing Ephnel's Flower Garden, the reporters and the public's attention had shifted from Chilseong Academy straight to Baek Seung-woo.
It was a good thing.
'Everyone except me, that is.'
The students and the academy no longer had to deal with the press hounding them.
Instead, I was the one getting hounded twice as much.
Of course, if I played my cards right, this could turn into a valuable asset down the line.
But for now, it was nothing but a headache.
Everywhere I went, people's eyes followed me.
And how could they not, with that massive, fluffy fox tail swishing behind my back?
Like flower petals drifting on a spring breeze or leaves rustling on branches, my tail caught the wind and swayed gently with it.
A sight no one with a vestigial tailbone could replicate.
Mine, on the other hand, was active in real time.
Students who spotted me by my tail pointed and gossiped.
"Hey, look. Baek Seung-woo's passing by."
"Heard he cleared Ephnel's Flower Garden yesterday. Wonder what the reward was."
"Whatever he got, he should give back to society, right?"
"You think that'll happen? He might piss off the Heavenly Fox Baek Family. Easier said than done."
"Oh yeah, apparently he joined Nine-Tail Guild yesterday. Must be nice getting a job at a subsidiary in this economy."
I was walking through the park path from the dorms to head to work, but all eyes were on me. Their not-so-subtle whispers were just icing on the cake.
One bit of their gossip caught my ear, thoughsomething I couldn't just let slide.
How did they know I'd joined Nine-Tail Guild?
Had word already spread through the industry that I'd enlisted?
Puzzled, I pulled out my phone from my back pocket and checked the news sites.
[Baek Seung-woo Strikes Again?! Just what did he do this time?!]
[Scion Joins Korea's Top S-Rank Guild, Nine-Tail Guild? Let's Dig In.]
[Nine-Tail Guild Master Baek Seok-ho: "He has nothing to do with me." A clear denial. So why did Baek Seung-woo join a guild under his wing?]
[From the Chilseong Academy attack to clearing Ephnel's Flower Garden, and now Nine-Tail Guild! The world watches his next move...]
Sensational headlines, as expected.
Scrolling through the articles, it looked like Baek Seok-ho had called a press conference last night to announce my enlistment.
What was this? Starting the media play already?
'Way faster than I expected.'
I'd figured it'd be at least three or four days before any announcement.
Baek Seok-ho was moving at lightspeed.
What was he after?
I didn't have enough info to analyze his motives yet.
Frustrated, I let out a sigh and fidgeted with my hands.
Pain flared from the burn scars beneath my gloves.
Through the gaps in my half-melted gloves from the venom, my grotesquely scarred hands came into view. I'd almost gained full resistance to poison, but touching it bare-handed had made the scars worsebigger and uglier.
'The pain's one thing, but now I need these gloves for looks too.'
They weren't just for style or dignity anymore.
They shielded my hands from the elements and veiled the damage from prying eyes.
That was what the gloves had become for me.
Sometimes I toyed with the idea of going bare-handed, proudly showing them off.
But I didn't have the guts to expose these hideous scars to the world just yet.
And why would I?
'No way I could strut around showing these off.'
They weren't even tattoos.
Who in their right mind would want to flaunt their ugliest side?
"...No taking off the gloves. Ever."
I had to wear them religiously for the foreseeable future.
So I resolved.
It was right then.
My pants pocket buzzed with vibration and a ringtone.
Who could be calling?
I accepted the call and pressed the phone to my ear.
"Hello?"
Huh, you picked up quicker than I thought.
"Professor? What's this call about all of a sudden?"
Got some business. It's a holiday today, you know.
"Today was a holiday?"
It was Nam Hwa-yeon on the line.
Thanks to her, I didn't waste time heading in for nothing.
Would've gone to work solo otherwise.
I breathed a sigh of relief, then tensed up at her mention of "business." What could she want?
You're new, so you might not know. It's a discretionary holiday.
"Ah, that's why there are so many students out and about."
Anyway, about that business. You free today?
"Uh, sorta?"
Free if you could call it that; busy if not.
No appointments, at least.
A full day of reading grimoires, practicing magic, or analyzing my situation to plan aheadthat was already a tight schedule.
Great. Then come over. Within the hour.
"...Yes, ma'am."
Of course, none of that mattered with Nam Hwa-yeon.
Boss says jump, you jump.
Not just that, though.
'Learning from Nam Hwa-yeon up close is a golden opportunity.'
She wasn't called the Demon Queen for nothing.
Her innate genius for magic shone just as brightly in teaching. Plus, hadn't she all but begged me to become her disciple?
In our dynamic, I was always the one on the back foot.
When she calls, I go.
Oh, and bring the books to my room. You remember all the grimoires you've read so far, right?
"S-suddenly?"
I was floored by the out-of-left-field addendum.
Bring every grimoire I'd read so far?
Even checking them out from the library all at once would be a hassle, but the sheer number? Impossible to haul.
If it's more than the daily limit, just drop my name.
"That's not the issue. You really mean all of them?"
Of course.
"..."
How many had I read, exactly?
Couldn't recall precisely, but ballpark? Over a hundred, easy.
Haul all those?
No way.
My arms wouldn't survive.
But my answer was set in stone.
"...Yes."
Professor says do it, you do it.
A powerless TA swallows their resentment and obeys.
Grudgingly, I agreed and turned toward the library.
* * *
Nam Hwa-yeon had told me to come to her "room."
So I went to the lab, but no one was there. Awkward.
Turned out "room" meant her personal residence, not the research lab.
Damn it, just say that from the start.
No need to lug this pile of books and wear myself out.
Grousing, I dragged the cloth-wrapped stack behind me as I walked.
"This place doesn't even compare to the TA dorms."
The design and materials were on another level from the other buildings.
Tap tap. Touching the wall, I felt mana resonance.
Made with magitech engineering, huh.
Tougher than a training room, probably.
As I scoped out the dorms, the front door opened.
Nam Hwa-yeon greeted me from inside.
Her eyes were their usual vacant, ocean-deep gaze.
But her outfit was different.
No suit or white coat.
Casual clothes.
Nothing fancy, but her natural beauty made it stunning at first glance.
Of course, pretty or not, she was still the ruthless boss piling on the work.
"Come on in. Wasn't too tough getting here?"
"Everything's inside the academy grounds anyway."
"The grounds are huge, though. This is like forty minutes from the TA dorms."
"An hour on foot."
A month into academy life, and I still hadn't memorized the layout.
My memory was decent, but this place was absurdly vast.
Streams in the back mountains, vast fields by the training grounds where kids could get lost playingeasy.
Not to mention terrain warped by magic, fields full of cursed plants.
The ridiculous scale had me rationalizing: It's a fantasy novel world, so sure.
"Fair point. Forty minutes or an hourmaster teleportation, and it's instant. Want me to teach you spatial magic?"
"Gotta have talent for spatial magic first."
A month since I started learning magic.
I'd devoured countless grimoires, building knowledge.
Thanks to my innate Magic Saint trait, picking up spells didn't take ages.
Even so, my skill level was stuck at beginner. I was juggling training and duties too, so par for the course.
"True, spatial magic is talent-heavy."
"You might manage it, but I don't have that kind of... "
"Why so sure?"
Nam Hwa-yeon cut me off.
She dismissed my words like they were nonsense.
"You think someone without talent could create a skill from just reading a paper?"
"Th-that was the trait's effect..."
"Traits don't matter. They're part of you, aren't they? Counts as your talent."
Like she said, traits were me.
So the absolute genius of Magic Saint was mine too. But spatial magic was the exception.
It wasn't just "good at magic" territory.
Spatial perception, innate gifts for space and cognitionall had to align.
A talent-devouring field.
Magic Saint alone wouldn't cut it.
Or so I thought.
Her eyes said otherwise.
"Alright, I get it."
Nam Hwa-yeon stared straight into me.
A spark lit in her vast, oceanic eyes.
The look she got when intrigued.
"You're underselling your own talent."
"Me?"
She nodded firmly at my response.
That conviction meant she'd seen something extraordinary in me.
"Spatial magic's too tricky for one day, so let's start with something else. Read this."
She tossed me a book from the living room shelf.
I caught it with both hands, baffled.
She was really just... teaching me? Just like that?
Then a line from childhood popped into my head.
Mom always said: If an adult offers you treats or gifts for free, yell "No! Don't! Stop!" and run.
"..."
Should I... bail?
This seemed worth following for free.