The Liberal Arts Department Has Many Peculiar Cadets (1)

Song Sia stepped into the Aegis office.

An Yumin, who had arrived first, looked up at her.

She clearly had something to say.

"What's wrong?"

"This. What happened here?"

An Yumin held out her smartphone screen.

It was a replay of the informal sparring match from last week's class placement evaluation.

Song Sia's opponent had been Lee Junwoo.

The replay captured nearly the final moments of the bout. Lee Junwoo was visible, collapsed on the floor. By that measure, Song Sia—still standing—had won.

But both An Yumin and Song Sia already knew perfectly well whose victory it had truly been.

......

It had been a trivial wound, treated ages ago. Yet looking at that image on the screen, the face that had taken Lee Junwoo's blow throbbed for a moment all over again.

Back then, her bloodlust toward Lee Junwoo had been ferociously strong.

Right before the class placement evaluation—after she had witnessed that scene of An Yumin talking with Lee Junwoo—she had been unable to keep her composure.

It was a pathetic match.

She had been desperate. She could not let Lee Junwoo go to the Middle Class. She needed to pry him away from An Yumin.

But the result had been completely unexpected.

In the few months since leaving Aegis, Lee Junwoo had grown stronger.

Song Sia was a mage. She had been certain that no one in the Low Class—no, that no one even in the Middle Class—could land a clean hit on her.

But she had fallen for that feint and reacted too late. She had taken that shield blow. Given the gulf in physical ability between her and Lee Junwoo, it should have been impossible.

And so I ended up sending Lee Junwoo to the Middle Class.

It meant two of the three instructors had clearly recognized him as Middle Class material.

Probably not Professor Marianne of the Magic Department. That woman had been disgustingly eager to act familiar with her.

I heard she has a full professorship review coming up soon.

So she had been looking to pull strings wherever she could. Valhalla's Apostles was a close cooperation partner of the Theia Foundation, after all.

Of course, Song Sia had no obligation to do that professor any favors. If anything, the woman's constant dismissive remarks about Lee Junwoo had grated on her nerves. So she had used her family's influence to deal with her.

Marianne would never become a full professor. Before long she would be kicked down to Theia High Academy—humiliation and demotion for a former Magic Tower professor.

Well. More important than that right now...

Lee Junwoo's unexpected struggle had complicated everything. The incident from the informal sparring had eventually been reported to her father as well. A meeting with him was already scheduled. She might receive punishment, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the way she always did.

But there was something more pressing at the moment.

She had to answer An Yumin, who was still puzzled by that day's evaluation.

Song Sia spoke.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Are you upset that I beat Lee Junwoo?"

An ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Yumin answered at once.

"What?"

"The way you're talking, it's like you're saying I lost. That's offensive."

Naturally, she had no intention of saying what An Yumin wanted to hear. It was better for An Yumin to keep thinking of Lee Junwoo as incompetent.

Her physical training hasn't been going the way she wants lately either, has it, An Yumin?

Without Lee Junwoo, that was only natural. Even with ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Aegis activities keeping him busy, Lee Junwoo had always looked after An Yumin's conditioning. The gap in physical ability had been so vast that he was more training partner than trainer—but it had clearly helped her.

At some point, though, An Yumin had come to hate even training alongside him. She had probably started suspecting that those sessions, too, had impure motives.

Anyway, if she finds out Lee Junwoo's skills have improved...

An Yumin might start wanting him back as her trainer. So Song Sia would absolutely not tell the truth.

An Yumin fired back immediately.

"But you allowed a clean hit from Lee Junwoo—an E-rank hunter? The Lee Junwoo we knew would never... He's clearly improved since he left Aegis!"

"You're mistaken. I just wasn't in good condition that day. I was on my period. Lee Junwoo got lucky, that's all."

"That movement was luck?"

She clearly didn't believe a word of it. Song Sia didn't care.

"Yes. As you know, I'm a half-vampire, so my condition gets extremely bad during my period. I just let my guard down for a moment because of the anemia."

"But a mage of your caliber wouldn't go down that easily!"

"If other people heard you, they'd think I lost without doing a thing. I just took one lucky punch. And the one who went down was Lee Junwoo, not me."

She could not afford to leave An Yumin with any more favorable impressions of him.

If only An Yumin weren't in the way. Then I could have Lee Junwoo...

Her bloodlust was growing stronger. She wanted him at her side. An Yumin was an obstacle—obviously.

At that thought, she suddenly remembered something from the evaluation a few days prior. When An Yumin and Lee Junwoo had been talking together, there had been another female cadet present.

Her name was... Choi Hana? She didn't seem to get along well with An Yumin. Wait.

And in that moment, a good idea struck her—a better way to separate An Yumin from Lee Junwoo.

Song Sia casually crossed her arms.

"Come to think of it, that Lee Junwoo. He seems to be getting along pretty well with that classmate of his, Choi Hana, these days. Even after leaving Aegis, he hasn't changed when it comes to chasing women."

"What?"

"Choi Hana's been getting bad rumors too. Birds of a feather, right? Don't you think? They're probably already involved."

"......"

She watched An Yumin's eyes tremble. As expected—it was working.

"Anyway, stop with the nonsense. Even if he's Middle Class, he's not at our level to hang around with. If you're seen getting involved with Lee Junwoo again, it'll only drag Aegis's reputation down."

As she said it with deliberate indifference, Ha Yeeun rudely flung the door open and barged in.

"This goddamn shit game!! I'm going insane!!"

There was no need to spare that pig any further attention.

Still, she seems to have lost a little weight at least.

A named trainer who charged over a million won per session—maybe it was having some effect.

The streaming is still the same, though.

Still, convenient. She didn't want to talk about Lee Junwoo any longer.

To the still-confused An Yumin, she deliberately spoke clearly enough to be heard.

"And the new operator is supposed to arrive at the office shortly. It's time to focus on Aegis activities again."

A short while later, a man entered the office.

"Hello. I'm Jeong Ungyeong. I'm here to help all of you."

A clean-cut, thoroughly sociable man with narrow eyes. The platinum-blonde Yoho tribesman Jeong Ungyeong introduced himself.

And now, with a new operator as well, it seemed Aegis wouldn't have any problems for a while.

The class placement evaluation was over.

Even thinking back on what had happened a few days ago, it still hadn't been easy.

Must be that plot armor. Song Sia seems to have gotten even stronger in those few months.

She was definitely stronger than the Song Sia I remembered with her curse magic. Even without touching that ominous blood, it had been enough to raise goosebumps.

But I had achieved every objective. I had been assigned to the Middle Class, just as planned.

The Magic Department professor who openly favored Song Sia had been a concern, but the other instructors had still acknowledged the clean hit I'd landed on her.

And those two instructors—Instructor Lee Suyeon and Instructor Seong Junhyeok—had both offered to take me on as their student.

That's a huge gain.

In truth, because of Infinite Authority Formation—that broken skill of mine—the only real choice was Instructor Lee Suyeon. If I trained under her, the one nicknamed Weapon Master, I would be able to properly develop every authority I acquired going forward.

But I have to hide the fact that I possess multiple authorities.

Operating as Unknown with my identity concealed was one thing. By ordinary standards, even a 3rd Awakening alone got you called a special-grade awakener. Here, I was known as someone who had only completed a 1st Awakening. For now, it was better to pretend I only had the Cleric class.

Naturally, there were no 2nd Awakeners in the Middle Class either.

Especially Instructor Lee Suyeon—she's the type who's extremely passionate about helping cadets with their 2nd Awakening...

Fortunately, the authority I was currently using as my main—Goddess's Faithful Guardian Knight—was the same Paladin class as my 1st authority, Peacefully Glittering Mirror.

I can suitably disguise myself as only having a 1st authority.

That way, without raising Instructor Lee Suyeon's suspicions, I could receive natural training. And I was currently deliberating on which authority to use as a suitable cover for a 2nd Awakening.

After listening to Instructor Lee Suyeon's lecture today, I'll have more certainty.

There was also Instructor Seong Junhyeok of the Paladin Department. When I chose the Liberal Arts Department, he had made an unexpected offer.

— If that's what you think, then so be it. But if you ever hit a wall as a Paladin, I'll personally train you anytime.

That offer ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was truly tempting. Any Paladin-class character who received Instructor Seong Junhyeok's special training could acquire one broken skill.

I don't know why he thinks so highly of me, but it's a good thing either way.

Taking over the early quests of the main story in place of the original protagonist, An Yumin—the current flow wasn't bad at all.

The second quest of the main story's first episode had been first-cleared.

Status bonus, crystals, and system gold on top of that. With both the first-clear bonus and the title bonus fully applied, I had acquired far more resources than expected.

All of it resources I need.

The system crystals I'd used to delete that garbage skill, Thrust—without those crystals, Multi Mirror Summon, which had been so useful in this quest, would have been impossible.

And as paid currency, their uses go well beyond skill slots.

In that regard, the first-clear judgment and the Avenger title were truly broken. Taking home two hundred crystals instead of fifty meant four times the efficiency. And the gold steadily piling up was deeply satisfying too. When the time came to enhance weapons, running short on gold would be a real nightmare.

The Paladin sword is enough for now, but...

At Theia, weapons were somewhat restricted during internal evaluations and training. Given how many silver-spoon cadets the academy had, it was entirely possible to pad evaluation scores with gear alone. Outside deployment activities had no such restrictions, of course.

Whether for those external deployments or for future operations as Unknown, weapon enhancement would be essential. I already had seventy thousand gold. Before long, I planned to enhance the Paladin sword just enough to stay under the restriction threshold.

But of all the rewards, the sweetest right now was still the stat bonus.

With this, I can push my body's efficiency even higher before next week.

Next week was the physical ability test—the main event of the early academy schedule. In truth, it was a hell week dressed up as a test.

Infamous for its brutally harsh training.

Rumors were already circulating among the cadets.

— I read it on our academy community board. People were saying they'd rather just die!

Jiyu, whose daily routine consisted of refreshing community posts all day long. So she was being a bit dramatic—but none of it was wrong.

They do grind you into the dirt.

For three nights and four days, they ran cadets until every last drop of stamina was gone. The old me would have wrecked my body for nothing and gained zero benefit.

Born a two-star extra. Training efficiency of zero, no matter what I did.

But now, through leveling and stat bonuses, I had improved my body's efficiency. If I truly ground myself to death during that hell week, my stats would improve by a corresponding amount.

I definitely felt the stat gap during this evaluation.

My strength was 20. Song Sia's intelligence, as I felt it, was 80. My main stat was still four times lower. Catching up to those three from Aegis would require every method available.

And today was the first lecture of the Liberal Arts Department. On my way to the department building, I ran into a familiar cadet.

"J-Junwoo, this is bad!!!"

My childhood friend Baek Jiyu came rushing toward me in a panic. Nearby cadets glanced at the two of us—at Jiyu more than me, naturally. Today, too, she was in her bright first-year outfit. Dark circles sat under her eyes from preparing for the Mungsukkyu Crew's Warworld tournament, but still.

"What's wrong? Something happen?"

"Th-that... that... Jeong Siu's crew... y-you... you've been marked by Jeong Siu!"

Jeong Siu?

I hadn't been certain at first back in high academy, but after seeing how terrified Jeong Siu was of me, I'd figured out that he knew my identity.

He must have recognized the voice.

But given his personality in the original, he wasn't much of a threat. He was a genuine thug, so if he'd truly disliked me, he would have picked a fight somehow. Of course, once he realized I was Unknown, that became absolutely impossible.

"Are you sure you're not misunderstanding?"

"I'm not! They were looking at something on a tablet... and then they suddenly shouted your name and called you a psycho. Their faces were all twisted up when they said it. And of all things, that Jeong Siu is in the Liberal Arts Department too..."

"Is that so?"

Jeong Siu's class was Thief. There was no real need for him to come to the non-mainstream Liberal Arts Department. Jiyu was such a loner that her following me here made sense—but even so, it wasn't a bad thing.

Come to think of it, Choi Hana is here too...

Anyway, I soothed the worried Jiyu as best I could.

"Well, if they pick a fight, I'll just hit back. Don't worry too much."

I gave her head a couple of light pats and headed for the lecture hall.

And a female cadet who had arrived first came over to greet me.

"Hello! Lee Junwoo! Good morning again today!"

It was Choi Hana.

But for a moment, I couldn't even return the greeting. I just stood there, stunned.

Why is she wearing a maid outfit even at the academy?