Ch 121
Became a swordsmanship instructor at the academy
Chapter 121
Since we work at the same 1st Hunter School, quite a few people think I'm part of Vice Principal Kim Man-dong's faction.
But the truth is completely different.
To begin with, I don't particularly like Vice Principal Kim Man-dong.
As I mentioned before, he was unreasonable with me from our first duel, and even after we'd already made a deal with agreed conditions, he's made unfair demands more than once.
He says he's looked out for me, but what has he actually done?
Let me take paid leave on weekdays?
Did I take time off for no reason?
The reason I came to this school was to meet the protagonists and build relationships with them.
But with my current abilities, I don't need to be obsessed with the protagonists anymore.
Even when the Demon King descends and the world overflows with monsters, I have enough ability to take care of myself.
Besides, I've already resolved not to be obsessed with how the original story changes.
Despite that, the reason I've continued staying at school is because I found the profession of teaching itself appealing.
The students trusted me as their teacher and showed me affection, and I liked those students too.
But it's not to the point where I'd continue enduring such unfair treatment.
What do I have to be desperate about?
I have ability, money, and information.
When I first came to this world, I said I'd enjoy life and live as a popular person, but have I enjoyed anything so far?
I haven't even been to a club once, never been on a date, and don't have a girlfriend...
"Teacher Kang, we're all ready. I'm sorry. My father is being troublesome again..."
The Vice Principal accepted the duel.
It's not like the previous sparring match where he called people to watch, but we need someone to operate the barrier magic, so he called Teacher Kim.
"No. I was the one who requested the duel first."
"What? You did, Teacher Kang?"
One of the reasons I've endured so far is because the Vice Principal is Teacher Kim's father.
I've received a lot of help from Teacher Kim, and I consider her a colleague.
"I think it's time to settle things once and for all."
But there's a limit to endurance.
Leaving behind Teacher Kim, who looked flustered, I stepped up to the dueling arena.
I can see the Vice Principal bobbing his head and loosening up his body.
"Listen... Teacher Kang, not all S-rank Hunters are the same just because they're S-rank Hunters."
Who's he to talk?
Ridiculous.
"Since you said you're ready, shall we start as soon as the barrier goes up?"
I thought about saying something, but there doesn't seem to be any need for words.
"Let's do that."
A moment later, as soon as the barrier was created, the Vice Principal charged at me.
Actually, he tried to charge, but I have no intention of going easy on him.
SWISH! SWISH!
THUD!
When I cut his legs with the Formless Sword, the charging Vice Principal collapsed right there.
The Formless Sword is a technique that even Luciel couldn't block, so there's no way the Vice Principal could stop it.
SWOOSH! SWOOSH!
Without letting my guard down, I cut off both his arms as well.
"Ah... Dad!"
Teacher Kim came up after removing the barrier, and the duel was over.
I approached the Vice Principal and used healing magic to reattach his arms and legs.
Though Teacher Kim is a magician, Vice Principal Kim Man-dong, being an S-rank Hunter, has much more magic, so she wouldn't be able to heal him properly.
While regeneration magic would be better for recovery, I was worried he might be stubborn like last time and want to fight again, so I used healing magic to reattach his arms.
"Not all S-rank Hunters are the same just because they're S-rank Hunters."
I returned the Vice Principal's words to him and left the dueling arena.
But somehow, I don't feel as refreshed as I thought I would.
***
"Ugh, I didn't know Teacher Kang was that strong. I've completely lost face."
"Stop talking and don't move. What on earth did you say to Teacher Kang?"
"Huh? Seon-hwa, aren't you being too harsh? Teacher Kang did this to your father. And that guy was the one who requested the duel first."
"I heard that too. But you must have provoked it, Dad. Teacher Kang isn't someone who's crazy about dueling like you."
"...Do you like Teacher Kang that much?"
"Wh-what are you talking about right now!"
"Stop pretending."
"What?"
"This time, Teacher Kang's class ranked last in the entire second year."
"Teacher Kang's class is in last place?"
"Because of the recent incident, the kids couldn't do their practicals, and a student named Minha couldn't take the exam, so that's how it turned out."
"Then it's not Teacher Kang's fault. Rather, Teacher Kang even caught the culprit..."
"I know that too, but last place is last place. The homeroom teacher of the last-place class has to attend supplementary training during vacation, but I offered to change that to chief instructor for new teacher training."
"Chief instructor for new teacher training... That was originally supposed to be your job, Dad."
"New teacher training is longer than supplementary training, but the chief instructor doesn't have much to do. And actually, I wasn't planning to make him chief instructor either."
"What?"
"If Teacher Kang said he'd be chief instructor, I was going to go with you on the day training starts and switch with him."
"What does that mean?"
"I was going to say that you asked me to, so I'd be chief instructor instead, and tell him to go on a date with you."
"D-date?"
"Did you think this father wouldn't know that you like Teacher Kang?"
"Really... I'll handle my own love life."
"Handle what yourself? You know Teacher Kang is popular, right? This isn't the time to be leisurely. Even Lee Seol, from what I can see, seems to have come to school because of Teacher Kang."
"What? No, Lee Seol is..."
"Why would someone who used to say school was stuffy and would absolutely never come suddenly want to be a teacher?"
"Even so, doing things without being asked... What is this?"
"It seems Teacher Kang had some resentment built up against me. I thought he was broad-minded, but he's surprisingly petty... Ow!"
"Don't badmouth Teacher Kang."
"Geez, really... They say raising a daughter is useless."
***
—Why are you gloomy again?
"Huh? What do you mean?"
—Your expression looks bad. You said you beat up someone you didn't like. You won, didn't you?
"I won. But I'm wondering if it had any meaning."
Actually, there was nothing wrong with what the Vice Principal said.
Regardless of the circumstances, our class came in last place, and being chief instructor is better than attending training for last-place homeroom teachers.
When you think about it, the Vice Principal was being considerate of me.
The problem is that his consideration included dumping his work on me.
Besides, I didn't separately set a condition that I wouldn't go to supplementary training if I won, so even though I won the duel, nothing will change.
Should I really quit school?
It seems like it would be okay to quit school now and live more enjoyably...
The protagonist graduates from school in 3 years, and then fights the government and Antas for about 2 more years, so there should be no major problems for at least the next 5 years.
Even after monsters pour out into the world and the Demon King descends, the protagonists will handle it.
I just need to spend about 3 years at the portal where my Master was during that time.
The future has changed slightly because of what I've done, but it probably won't have much impact on the protagonists' growth.
My Master has left, but the internal energy manual remains in the portal, and I told Luciel to give the Demon Fruit and teach magic to Kim Do-hyun and Lee Ji-sung when they come later.
"Hey... Luciel, isn't there magic that can change one's appearance?"
—Appearance? There is, but why? Ah, are you trying to match my taste since I keep saying you're ugly?
"Huh?"
—Forget it. Even if I use magic, I'll still see your current face from my perspective. You're ugly, but I've gotten used to it after looking at you, so don't worry too much.
Look at this girl?
She clearly promised not to say hurtful things last time, but she's subtly picking a fight.
"There's a limit to delusions. Who would learn magic to match your taste?"
—Then why?
"You wouldn't know, but I'm somewhat famous, so people recognize me."
—Isn't that good? Why, are you planning to do bad things by changing your appearance?
"Bad things, what? I also want to live comfortably without caring about other people's gazes."
—Can't you just not care about others' gazes?
"If it were as easy as you say, I wouldn't have brought this up. Um... Right, even if there's a woman I like, I can't tell if she really likes me or if she's approaching me because of my background."
—What?
"Why are you so surprised?"
—If, if it's for such impure intentions, I can't tell you.
"What's impure about it? What, am I supposed to stay single forever? I have my age too."
—A-anyway... No!
"Then isn't there magic to read minds?"
—Th... There's no way such a thing exists.
"Then just tell me the appearance-changing magic. I'll buy twice as many chocolate bars next time I come."
—No! I won't eat them!
She suddenly threw away the chocolate bar she was eating and left.
Why is she overreacting like that?
Is my dating life that... Ah! I get it.
Luciel seems worried that if I get a girlfriend, I won't come here often.
It would certainly decrease, but if I tell her I'll still come at least once a month like now, wouldn't she tell me?
***
"Everyone worked hard on the exams."
Our class's final exam results aren't bad.
Actually, they're quite good.
We ranked 3rd in class average.
But when you add up the midterm exams, practical scores, and merit points received from other teachers, we're definitely in last place for the first semester.
The difference with the class right above us is a whopping 100 merit points.
If I gave 100 merit points, we'd escape last place, but that would naturally cause talk.
Originally, regular teachers can give a maximum of 20 merit and demerit points per month.
Even if I give 20 points to our class students and 20 demerit points to the 9th place class, that's only a 60-point difference.
I said I wouldn't go to the Vice Principal, but this isn't a system the Vice Principal created to mess with me—it's a system that actually existed originally, so I have no grounds to refuse.
Sigh, should I have just said I'd be chief instructor for new teacher training?
But after having a duel like that, I don't have the thick skin to come back now and ask to be made chief instructor.
The Vice Principal hasn't said anything either, and I haven't contacted Teacher Kim separately since that day.
Was she shocked?
Cutting off all his limbs was a bit harsh, but I reattached them right after the duel ended...
The Vice Principal came to work fine the next day too.
If only Luciel had told me the appearance-changing magic, I would have submitted my resignation.
I said I'd come often like now even if I got a girlfriend, but she doesn't trust me or something—she refused even when I offered five times the chocolate bars.
Should I try offering ten times when I go next time?
Anyway, since my Master left, nothing's working out and nothing's to my liking... Well, that's not entirely true.
I remembered that I'm supposed to go see Se-jin's cat tomorrow.
I should go there and play with the cat for some healing.
Isn't there something similar to Churu here, even if the name is different?
If not, I should buy plenty of canned food and toys too.
"Teacher, when is the deadline for grade corrections?"
"The correction period is until next Tuesday, so if there are any problems, go find the subject teachers and ask. Anyone have questions?"
"Teacher, we got full consent for our class trip during vacation."
Haah... Come to think of it, there was this too.
Last week or the week before last, during class meeting time, there was a suggestion to go on a class trip together during summer vacation.
Of course, they said I had to come too, so I said no, but teachers don't have voting rights in class meetings.
The class trip was unanimously approved, and as a last resort, I told them to get their parents' consent.
I thought at least one parent would say no, calling it a nuisance during vacation...
"Did you decide on the location?"
"Yes. For summer, it has to be the sea, right? Dolmeori Beach in Hampyeong?"
"Hampyeong? Hampyeong in Jeollanam-do? It'll take several hours just to get there."
"There's Muan Airport nearby. We can fly from Seoul."
"Won't it be expensive to fly?"
"Yeon-su's father works for an airline, so he looked into it, and it's less than 30,000 won one way."
"Jae-hyeon's maternal family runs a pension near the beach, so they said they'd pick us up too."
...They've planned everything out.
They said the date wasn't set yet, so I told them to let me know when it's decided, finished homeroom, and left the classroom.
I should hurry and go clock out.
Teacher Park asked me this morning to have a drink since his wife went to her parents' house, so I should go drink with him.
"Excuse me, Teacher?"
I turned around to see Minha, our class president.
"Yes, class president. What is it?"
"Do you have any worries? You've seemed to have a bad expression for the past few days..."
"What worries... Ah, schedule the class trip for 2 weeks after vacation starts."
"Is something wrong?"
"Teacher has to go to supplementary training."
"Supplementary training?"
I was about to say it's because our class came in last place for the first semester, but worried that Minha might blame herself, I didn't say anything else and just came down to the staff room.
Just as I was about to open the door and go in... Huh?
"Teacher Kang, could we talk for a moment?"
It's Teacher Kim.