Ch 110
Became a swordsmanship instructor at the academy
Chapter 110
"Teacher Kang is here? Good morning."
"Good morning. Everyone, it's been a long..."
Since I went to Luciel yesterday when I was sleeping, I almost said "long time" without realizing it.
I went at 2 o'clock and came back at 6 o'clock, so it was only 4 hours in this world's time, but it was 120 hours there.
Moreover, since I spent 120 hours when I was in Japan too, it's actually been almost two weeks.
"Oh, Teacher Kang! How was the field trip? Teacher Park said the bus was absolute hell."
"Bus? Ah, the bus was definitely unbearable. We have to take the bullet train when going to Nagoya. And please take one of these each."
Since I forced my way into participating in the preliminary field trip, I bought hand cream at the duty-free shop when returning to Korea as bribes in case some people thought poorly of me.
"Oh, what's this? You didn't need to buy something like this."
"It's nothing special, just hand cream."
"Hand cream? I thought it would be snacks or chocolate, so I got excited for nothing."
"Teacher Jung bought a lot of snacks."
"Really? I'll use it well."
As I was distributing them starting from the general subject teachers, the practical teachers were glancing over and watching for their chance.
Since I can't give to some and not others, I naturally bought some for the practical teachers too.
Since becoming S-rank, there's been no bullying or gossiping at all, and they rather seem to find me intimidating, so when I approach them first to give it, they all quickly accept.
I thought they might not accept and I'd give it to the kids instead... Well, whatever.
I prepared snacks and chocolate to give to the kids separately anyway.
"Ah, Teacher Kang! By the way, there's one piece of bad news."
"Ah... Bad news?"
"An official notice came down on Friday saying that inspectors from the Education Office and Hunter Management Bureau are coming this Wednesday."
"Inspectors? It seems like they came around fall last year, but this year is a bit early."
"Well, the date is up to the Education Office and Hunter Management Bureau."
"There's nothing special to do when inspectors come, right? There wasn't much last year."
I can't remember anything except making the kids clean more diligently.
"That's because you were in charge of first-years last year. When inspectors come, they mainly observe third-years and leave. But this year they said they'd also look at second-years."
"Second-years too?"
"Yeah. And your class became the target for classroom observation."
"Our class? Don't tell me the vice principal chose our class again..."
"Well, from what I heard at Friday's meeting, the inspectors decided."
"From above?"
"Yeah. It seems like... It's because of last month's incident."
Ah... I understand what kind of feeling this is.
Certainly, since such a major incident occurred, those above couldn't help but be interested.
Of course, the culprit has already been caught and everyone except Minha has returned, so there probably won't be any particular problems.
"Well, if it's Teacher Kang, just do what you usually do and it'll be fine."
"Right, you're a Hunter Association director, so what's special about inspectors?"
"No, Teacher Park..."
"I think the same. Teacher Kang directly caught the culprit too. He saved the kids as well. Maybe they're coming to give an award or something?"
"That certainly makes sense. Or maybe they chose Teacher Kang's class to somehow have a word with Teacher Kang."
"Teacher Jung..."
"I clearly felt our Teacher Kang's power when we went on the field trip this time. Teacher Kang got a free pass through airport departure screening."
"You think it was just a free pass? The airline recognized Teacher Kang too and upgraded him to business class."
"Really?"
"Originally they were going to upgrade to first class, but since it was Japan there was no first class, so they did business class instead. We got to ride business class thanks to that."
"Wow, that must have been nice."
"It's only a few hours. It's not like they do it every time, and it's only possible when there are empty seats..."
"Still, it's amazing. As expected of a director."
I can't tell if this is teasing or praise.
The inspector topic also came up at the faculty meeting. Fortunately, they're not observing both morning and afternoon, only planning to observe afternoon classes.
They want me to write up a separate lesson plan, but if I go to Luciel during lunch time to do this, I probably won't have to work overtime.
After the meeting ended, I gathered some snacks and went up to the classroom.
"Everyone, it's been a while. How was Friday?"
"...The vice principal came because you weren't here, teacher."
"Next time, even if you go... I hope at least the vice principal doesn't come."
They still seem somewhat gloomy, but they look brighter than last week, which is fortunate.
"The vice principal would be hurt if he heard that. Eunseo and Jinsu, come out and distribute these to the kids."
"Oh, teacher! Is it snacks?"
"Didn't you say you'd give presents during the school trip?"
"The real present will be revealed during the school trip. This is... Well, yeah, I just picked it up at the airport on the way."
"Come on, what do you mean picked up on the way."
"We'll eat it well."
"Thank you."
"I'm specially taking care of only our class, so don't tell kids from other classes. Especially the kids from the swordsmanship class. Got it?"
"Yes."
"Teacher, how was the school trip accommodation? No bugs?"
"No bugs. Everything was clean and good. Different from the training camp."
"Did you go to the Black Temple too?"
"Yeah. I went to the Black Temple too. It takes over 5 hours by bus from Tokyo... Well, it would be reduced somewhat if we go by chartered bus. Still, you'll all have a hard time."
"It... It takes that long?"
After briefly chatting with the kids and giving them instructions, I headed to the swordsmanship training hall.
I finished the morning class a bit early and stopped by the nurse's office.
When I knocked and entered, I saw Teacher Kim in a white coat.
Actually, things have become somewhat awkward between Teacher Kim and me since the Bennett Krizia incident last time.
I beat that girl up and received Teacher Kim's help in the recovery process.
Fortunately, she cooperated without saying much, but since she directly saw and treated Bennett who was beaten to a pulp, she might think I'm cruel.
She even told me to stop there and hand her over to the police...
Of course, I don't regret it or anything.
Even if I went back to the past, I would make the same choice.
"Teacher Kang? What brings you here at this time?"
"I finished class a bit early. I wanted to talk with Teacher Kim. Are there any students inside?"
"Ah, no. Please sit."
I came to see Teacher Kim today because of Minha's treatment.
I'm publicly known to only use swords.
Originally, only Bianca in this world used both swords and magic.
Of course, since Bianca also uses both magic and swordsmanship, it wouldn't be that surprising even if I, an S-rank hunter, used magic.
But regenerating Minha's arm with regeneration magic that doesn't even exist in this world?
Most people would find it strange.
The world's attention would be focused too, and patients from around the world might even come to the school.
I have no intention of monopolizing regeneration magic.
Lee Ji-sung will learn it in 2 years anyway.
Of course, Lee Ji-sung doesn't reveal any of the magic he learned from Luciel, including regeneration magic, to the world and uses it for himself.
He does use regeneration magic for Kim Do-hyun, but that's also because he needs Kim Do-hyun for his own purposes.
He makes such a big show of it that Kim Do-hyun trusts Lee Ji-sung to the extent that he'd believe him even if Lee Ji-sung said he made soybean paste out of feces.
Actually, if Lee Ji-sung hadn't interfered with Kim Do-hyun's fate, Kim Do-hyun would have learned magic too.
Anyway, since it doesn't make sense for me, who had no interest in magic until now, to suddenly use regeneration magic, I plan to disguise it as something developed through joint research with Teacher Kim.
And also resolve the awkward relationship while I'm at it.
"Actually, I've been researching magic lately."
"Magic research? But Teacher Kang, you're a swordsman."
"Bianca from England recently published a paper on enabling magicians to use swords."
"Ah, I saw that paper too, but the reverse case would be difficult..."
"It worked though."
I thought it would be better to show it directly, so I created a small fireball while speaking.
"Wow, that's really magic. Teacher Kang, you're amazing."
"I put in a lot of effort. I thought magic was the only way to recreate Minha's arm."
"Ah... But Minha's arm has already..."
"Been eaten by Orcs. I now know that once the arm is completely gone, it can't be restored with recovery magic."
"That's... Right."
"So I've been continuing my research. I've obtained somewhat meaningful results too."
"Meaningful results? What do you mean by that?"
"I thought that if recovery doesn't work, couldn't we regenerate it instead... I did create a theory..."
"A theory, you mean you created magic?"
"Yes. But since I was self-studying, there seem to be some limitations... Would Teacher Kim take a look? Teacher Kim is the only recovery magician I know, so you're the only person I can ask for help."
I handed Teacher Kim the USB I had prepared in advance.
Of course, I didn't make it - Luciel organized it.
Since Luciel's magic theory has different concepts from this world's magic, yesterday evening I purchased modern magic theory books as e-books, showed them to Luciel, and asked her to organize them.
Luciel perfectly reconstructed them with modern theory, but I deliberately changed several elements in the theory inside the USB I gave Teacher Kim to make them wrong.
I checked with Luciel once more, and she said any decent magician would be able to notice the mistakes, so Teacher Kim should find them too.
Even if she doesn't notice, I can give more hints.
"I can review it for you, but... Honestly, the possibility is slim. I know well that Teacher Kang's abilities are excellent, but developing new magic is never an easy task."
"I also know that developing new magic isn't easy. Recovery magic is even more difficult... But Minha is my student and I'm Minha's homeroom teacher, so I have to try everything I can."
"Actually, I thought Teacher Kang had finished things by catching the culprit. I didn't know you were conducting this kind of research..."
"Even if I caught the culprit, it doesn't bring back Minha's arm."
Teacher Kim looks completely moved, and it seems like I've almost recovered the image I lost during the Bennett Krizia incident.
"Teacher Kang really seems like a good teacher. Other teachers wouldn't do what Teacher Kang is doing..."
"There's some fault of mine in what happened to Minha."
"What? Ah, I heard from my father. How is that Teacher Kang's fault! Don't blame yourself. I'll also do my best to help."
I thanked her and left the nurse's office.
Teacher Kim suggested we have lunch together, but I said I was skipping it because I had a lot of paperwork.
Completing the theory is important, but my perfectly mastering regeneration magic comes first.
I returned to the swordsmanship training hall office, packed my laptop in my bag, and headed to the store.
When I arrived at the store and checked the time, it was already 12:20.
I bought cup noodles and other snacks and entered the dormitory at 12:25.
If I go in about 30 minutes, I can use about 900 minutes, roughly 15 hours in that world's time.
I picked up my bag and plastic bag and tore the Demon Realm Tree's leaf.
My vision darkened and soon the familiar scenery came into view.
The Demon Realm Tree in the distance... Huh, what's that?
I went to Luciel yesterday evening and returned to the outside world this morning at 6 o'clock.
So about 8 days should have passed in this world's time, but there's a pillar of white light surrounding the area near the Demon Realm Tree.
Worried that something might have happened to Luciel, I quickly ran toward the Demon Realm Tree.