Ch 174
Became a swordsmanship instructor at the academy
Chapter 174
Since there are quite a few people, I understand having multiple people interview at once, but why does it have to be these three...
The atmosphere is so cold that you'd believe me if I said this was the middle of Siberia. It's way too frigid.
I was thinking of trying to make some conversation before the interview, but I wish we could just get the interview over with quickly.
"Next 3 people, come in."
"Chan-seong, fighting."
"Thanks."
I smiled once at Seong Ji-an who was encouraging me and entered the student council room.
Three chairs were placed there, and across from them sat Eunsu and Eunseo.
Next to them stood Jinsu and Minhee, along with several student council students I'd seen a few times before.
For me, they're all familiar faces, so I actually feel more relaxed.
But the other guys will probably get nervous with all these seniors standing there like this.
"Just sit one person per chair in front."
Minhee guided us, and the usually rough kid completely lowered their voice, probably because they were in front of underclassmen.
I couldn't help but laugh and let out a brief snicker, but Eunseo glared at me fiercely.
She seemed to have seen me laugh, could this be points deducted...?
"Please introduce yourselves one by one. Starting from the left."
"I'm Kim Do-hyun from Class 7, 1st year. My major is swordsmanship."
"I'm Lee Ji-sung from Class 8, 1st year. My major is magic."
"I'm Min Chan-seong from Class 8, 1st year. My major is magic, and I really wanted to do student council activities when I got to high school."
"Oh, why?"
"I was very interested in student council activities. Especially since I'm also an enthusiastic fan of Vice President Seong Eunseo who's sitting in front of us right now..."
"Oh my, you're Eunseo's fan?"
"I... I am too..."
Do-hyun belatedly jumps on the bandwagon.
"You don't need to say things like that. I'm not planning to give you special treatment just because you're my fan."
I said it to try to lighten the stiff atmosphere, but it seems to have had the opposite effect.
If it were before, she would have blushed or been embarrassed...
It hasn't been that long since I last saw her, but her personality seems to have changed quite a bit in that time.
"Everyone please understand. Our vice president is a bit prickly. Now then, common question - three of your weaknesses. Starting from the left again."
Common question... Then there must be individual questions too. It's not even a job interview, just a student council interview, but they've prepared all sorts of things.
Not strengths but weaknesses...
"Uh... I'm not good at multitasking. To put it differently, I'm good at doing one thing steadfastly, but it's a bit difficult to handle multiple tasks simultaneously. Next is that my family comes first above all else, and the last one is that I don't have much money."
"Wouldn't it be strange if you had a lot of money at your age?"
"Right. And is there anyone who doesn't consider family important?"
"Ah...that is, what they call a dirt spoon..."
"Dirt spoon... Honestly, I don't really like the spoon theory, but are you being abused by your family by any chance? Or is there somewhere that hurts?"
"No...no."
"Then isn't there no problem? If you're healthy, they raised you well. Originally, family circumstances or background aren't important at all for doing student council work at our Hunter school. Next."
Do-hyun is getting completely grilled... It feels a bit like a pressure interview.
"The seniors might already know, but I have a bad reputation. I caused quite a lot of trouble since middle school. Of course, I'm really regretting, repenting, and reflecting on it now. As far as I know, I heard that the student council does work helping and serving students. It's not just empty words - I want to show that I've really changed, and I applied because I want to serve as a way of reflecting on my wrongs."
"I asked you to state your weaknesses. I never asked for your motivation for applying."
Eunsu points this out sharply, but Lee Ji-sung doesn't look particularly flustered.
"Ah... My second weakness is that I don't have friends for the same reason as above. My last weakness is that I have a lot of money."
"I can understand the others to some degree, but the last one is a bit strange. Isn't having a lot of money a good thing?"
"Various media outlets always tend to portray rich people negatively, so people look at me through tinted glasses. Sometimes they make unreasonable demands too."
A frontal assault.
While acknowledging his own faults, he's subtly forming sympathetic public opinion... As expected of the protagonist.
Well, in the original work too, he was really good with words.
But personally, I don't think it's a perfect 100-point answer.
Saying real weaknesses when asked to state weaknesses is clearly a mistake.
"It doesn't seem like completely illogical talk. Good, next."
"I have no memory. I was lying in a vegetative state for nearly 2 years."
"Uh..."
"Then you're okay now?"
"Now I occasionally go out on weekends, but there are no particular abnormalities. And I only have no memory of people... I remember all the lesson content and knowledge."
"That's fortunate in the midst of misfortune."
My strategy is to evoke sympathy.
It's somewhat similar to Ji-sung at first glance, but neither Kim Do-hyun nor Lee Ji-sung can follow me.
Even though our kids are maintaining their composure, I know better than anyone that they're tender-hearted and affectionate.
Sure enough, not only the other kids but even Eunseo, who had been maintaining a poker face, relaxed her expression.
"Second, my sense of humor is slightly old-fashioned."
"Your sense of humor is old? Specifically what kind...?"
"Do any of you seniors happen to know the opposite of kindness?"
"Prickliness?"
"Unkindness?"
"Choice paralysis."
"What choice paral... Wait. Don't tell me it's because it's the opposite of 'da-jeong-ham' so you can't decide..."
Oh, they even kindly explained it for me.
"Yes."
"Sigh... I understand what you mean now..."
"Are you really a first-year?"
Most of them look disgusted, but exactly one person snickered.
"Want me to try one more?"
As expected, only our Number 2.
"What kind of temple do dogs hate the most?"
"...Boshin-gak."
They got it right away, no fun.
Come to think of it, I think I did this with Eunseo before when we were training.
"Eunseo, why do you know such things... Stop with the weird humor and the last...no, never mind."
'Never mind' - don't tell me I'm not even worth listening to more?
Look at these heartless kids.
Still, during the Boshin-gak one, Jinsu and about one or two others seemed to snicker...
I really thought I might not even get additional questions, but that wasn't the case.
A few more common questions like motivation for applying continued, and after that, individual questions began.
They asked Do-hyun why he considers family the top priority, and asked Ji-sung to talk about one of the incidents he caused.
Both were quite difficult questions, but Do-hyun properly played the emotion card, saying his mother raised him alone through hardship.
Ji-sung also did well at packaging things by talking about a relatively minor incident.
If he had thoughtlessly talked about giving Do-hyun sitting next to him a hard time and bullying him, it would have been definite elimination... He's indeed cunning.
"You said you were hospitalized due to an accident when you were in 2nd year of middle school, right? Then shouldn't you have returned to middle school division?"
"In principle, yes, but I was able to enter high school division after taking a test and passing."
"If you learned more than a year's worth of material in less than two months, you must be quite smart."
"No. I worked extremely hard."
"Enough with the modesty. You said earlier that you have no memory, right?"
"That's correct."
"Even without memory, why did you struggle to study and come to high school division?"
"I wanted to graduate at an age appropriate for me. If I spend time with friends, memories might come back. I also didn't want to fall behind. Above all, even if I can't remember, my friends would remember me."
Actually, the current situation is the complete opposite.
I changed my appearance so they can't recognize me, but I remember all of them.
"Then the last question. What do you all think about Teacher Kang Shin-hyeok?"
***
I slightly turned on my phone under the blanket and saw it was 2 AM.
After confirming that all the kids in the same dormitory were asleep, I made a dummy to look like I was sleeping, then used warp magic.
It'll be April soon, but there's still snow remaining here and there.
As I entered the portal, Luciel greeted me with a smiling face.
"You're a bit late today?"
"The kids didn't go to sleep until late. Have you been well?"
"I don't know."
"Why are you like that again? I heard Se-jin bought you a lot of chocolate bars earlier."
I had briefly talked with Se-jin on the phone after dinner.
"A lot, what... She only bought a measly five boxes."
"Five boxes would last 5 days, wouldn't it?"
"Last time she only bought five boxes and came back after 6 days."
"Se-jin is also very busy. I'll buy more next time I come."
I heard that inheritance matters are finished, but she's out of her mind busy returning to Ares Guild and learning guild master duties.
She had grumbled that even though she goes to Luciel's world to handle business that can be processed there, it's still hellish.
"It's a promise."
"Right. What about Master? Is he sleeping?"
"He's sleeping. He was boiling water saying he's going to eat ramen again."
I arrived at the camping car while talking with Luciel.
He was boiling water over a campfire.
"You're here?"
"Yes. But why a campfire? There's an electric kettle in the camping car - is it broken?"
"No. There's something called campfire ambiance, isn't there?"
Suddenly campfire ambiance? Did he watch a camping documentary or something?
"Add a bit more water. I should eat one too."
"If I add more now, it'll take longer to boil. Boil your own."
"How stingy of you. Then I'll just have one chopstick-full when it's done."
"No way."
"Is one chopstick-full of ramen too precious for your disciple?"
"You didn't buy it either, did you? Our lovely great-disciple bought it."
"Se-jin's money is my money, you know? The water's boiling. Put in the seasoning."
Master grumbled, but when it was all cooked, he handed me chopsticks telling me to eat first.
"Just eat a little."
I ignored him and took a big chopstick-full... I can feel killing intent.
"How is that one chopstick-full by any stretch? Don't you have a conscience?"
"Hey, even dogs don't bother you when you're eating. Are you really going to fuss over just one ramen?"
"Geez, you eat it all."
After saying that, he brought out a new pot and put water in it.
"Even cold water has its hierarchy... You eat so well indeed."
"It tastes better because Master cooked it."
"Damn brat."
"If I'm damned, then you won't be able to get ramen, will you?"
"You won't give up on a single word. I have my great-disciple even without you."
"Se-jin is busy these days."
"She was talking about that too. She said she's coming today but might only be able to come next week. What kind of work does she have so much of?"
"Still, it's not work someone's making her do, but work she likes doing. By the way, how much time does Luciel have left?"
"Ask her directly."
I went to Luciel's camping car and found her lying on the bed eating chocolate bars.
I went next to Luciel and tried to unwrap one as a palate cleanser, but she slapped my hand away.
"Where do you think you're messing around? You might lose your hand at this rate."
"How stingy... Let's eat together. I said I'd buy more next time."
When I poked her sides and talked, she hesitated for a moment then handed one over with trembling hands.
"Just one. I'm really going to buy a lot next time."
"You know what happens if you forget like last time, right?"
"I know."
"Is school fun?"
"Somewhat? More importantly, isn't there not much time left?"
A month ago, three of Luciel's wings had already turned white.
She said she could leave when half of them changed, so there's exactly one left.
"I don't know. The old man says there's not much left. He's been saying the same thing for a month, so I'm not sure."
It seems like it might take a bit longer than I thought, which is fortunate.
If Luciel saw how Seong Ji-an is taking care of me now, she wouldn't stay still.
She'd definitely tell Se-jin too...
Ugh, it's horrible just thinking about it.
"Why? Do you want to be with me quickly?"
"Uh... Huh? That's right."