Chief Proctor (2)
Chief Proctor (2)
Kang Han-na's thoughts came to a screeching halt at the sight of Baek Woo-jin, unchanged from that day.
Kim Gyeong-ho had been just as startled, but unlike her, his mind was racing—faster even than it had in the life-or-death moments of his active duty days.
'Why is he here...?!'
Finance Department Head Kim Seong-won. And the documents in his hand.
Kim Gyeong-ho's gaze shifted to Baek Woo-jin, standing beside Kim Seong-won.
A young man with a frame so large Kim Gyeong-ho had to look up at him.
'...There's something about that bastard.'
No matter how long it had been since he retired from the field, it was absurd that he hadn't sensed an ordinary person—not even an Awakened—approaching.
He couldn't feel a single trace of ki from the two men standing right in front of him.
'First—'
"Kim Seong-won."
Before Kim Gyeong-ho could spit out the excuse he had desperately scrambled together, Baek Woo-jin spoke first.
"Yes, Professor."
'......Huh?'
Kim Gyeong-ho's eyes flew wide in shock at the sight of Kim Seong-won dipping his head in a display of courtesy toward Baek Woo-jin.
This was the same notoriously prickly Finance Department Head who was curt even with special professors personally invited by the Chairman, and who cussed out the magic studies professors on a daily basis whenever they broke equipment and facilities. And he was bowing his head politely to a young man.
The shock was short-lived.
"I'll sort things out here. Go fetch the Academic Affairs Director."
"Understood."
Kim Seong-won moved to summon the Academic Affairs Director, who hadn't come in to work today, but Kim Gyeong-ho quickly shouted to stop him.
"Hold it!!"
"Let's do this cleanly."
"W-What?! W-Wait— Kim Seong-won!!"
Kim Gyeong-ho called out to him desperately as he left the room, but Kim Seong-won just clicked his tongue and walked out without a backward glance.
'Damn it......!!'
Every instinct screamed at him to run, to snatch the documents from Kim Seong-won's hand and restrain him, but the man standing before him made him think twice about acting rashly.
The issue was Kim Seong-won's behavior—that a man who treated professors like monsters would show such strict courtesy.
And he couldn't exactly cause a scene inside the Academy.
Ultimately, Kim Gyeong-ho concluded that if he couldn't do something about the young man blocking the door, he wouldn't be able to try anything at all. He started to speak.
"Kang Han-na."
"......Yes?"
Kang Han-na, who had been staring blankly ever since Baek Woo-jin appeared, flinched and came to her senses.
"Go outside and gather everyone."
"...E-Everyone......?"
"Everyone."
"Ah, um... r-right... understood."
Nodding as if mesmerized, she moved to comply, but Kim Gyeong-ho, standing in front of her, grabbed her arm.
"Hey!! What do you mean gather everyone?! Go grab Kim Seong-won first—aaagh—!!"
A cracking sound came from Kim Gyeong-ho's wrist, the one holding Kang Han-na's arm. He let go and clamped his mouth shut as the scream tore out of him.
"Go."
"Y-Yes...."
She reacted more to Baek Woo-jin's voice—a tone so smooth it could melt the ears—than to Kim Gyeong-ho's glare from beside her. She hurried out of the room.
Click—
The door to the Chief Proctor's office closed again.
"Mmmp! Mmmmmp!!"
Kim Gyeong-ho's face grew steadily paler as he flailed, his own broken hand muffling his mouth.
'Wh-What is this......?!'
The mana dwelling within his body had completely slipped out of his control and seized command of his body instead.
"Kim Gyeong-ho."
"Mmmp?!"
Kim Gyeong-ho had been spiraling into panic with a speed that put his age and experience to shame. His reason, which had snapped, slotted back into place as if by magic.
He glared at the man who had called his name, wincing at the pain searing through his brain.
Whatever he had done wrong, this was clearly crossing the line. Even if he was dismissed from his professorship, this matter would have to be—
"Stand down before I gouge your eyes out."
"......."
As if his rage had been an act, Kim Gyeong-ho's gaze, which had been glaring at Baek Woo-jin, slowly dropped to the floor.
The fury that had flared up from the pain and the shame of being beaten by a young punk was suppressed by instinct and experience.
The 1st and 2nd Generation Awakened.
The era when Rifts and Awakened first began to appear.
Back then, power ruled over law.
And Kim Gyeong-ho was a 2nd Generation Awakened.
He realized instinctively that the words flowing from Baek Woo-jin's mouth were more than a simple threat.
Even with the horrific pain from his broken wrist, Kim Gyeong-ho clamped down on his throat to keep even a groan from escaping.
Baek Woo-jin watched him for a moment, then continued.
"You're an Awakened, so you know. The first time is the only hard part. After that, you just get used to it."
Whether it's stealing something.
Or killing someone.
If a person acts of their own free will and not under duress, ultimately, they simply adapt, get used to it, and grow skilled.
They learn to move covertly to avoid detection.
They strengthen their legs to escape capture.
They develop nimble hands to extract whatever they desire.
It's the same with killing.
They master a fighting style that suits them.
They fortify their bodies so they won't die.
Greed is no different.
It swells its influence, little by little.
Solely for its own gain.
Not even realizing its own guilt is wearing away to nothing.
"Kim Gyeong-ho."
Baek Woo-jin spoke his name as he slowly approached him.
Close enough to feel each other's breath.
Kim Gyeong-ho, eyes cast down, saw the shadow looming over him.
Baek Woo-jin spoke to him in a low voice.
"Be satisfied with what you've taken and leave for somewhere quiet."
Kim Gyeong-ho's mana gathered over his left chest, slowly compressing his heart.
"If you want to live a long life, that is."
**
Meanwhile, the professors and staff who had been running final checks for the upcoming exam were blinking at the person who had called them together.
"Everyone is gathered. No one missing......."
"Are you certain?"
"Yes...."
Kang Han-na nodded to Kim Seong-won, who had stepped in to handle her task for her.
"Why on earth were we told to gather here?"
The professor with the most seniority among those assembled stepped forward and asked Kim Seong-won.
A Brown Ring was on the professor's left hand.
And it wasn't just him; every professor gathered here as exam proctors wore a Brown Ring.
The Brown Ring was the lowest of the three grades.
Kim Seong-won looked over the professor who had stepped forward and the others behind him before speaking.
"The Chief Proctor ordered the gathering, so don't ask me."
"...Is the Chairman coming?"
The position of Chief Proctor originally belonged to the Chairman.
But the Chairman was extremely busy, and his appearances at the actual exam site were exceedingly rare. That was why the professor who had asked was surprised enough to double-check.
"How would that guy come here when he's gone into a 12th Stage Rift to secure an Artifact to use as a prize this summer?"
"......?"
Kim Seong-won waved his hand dismissively, as if he couldn't be bothered.
"Starting this year, the Chief Proctor position has been taken over by another professor. So just know that and wait a moment."
"......."
No one in the Academy didn't know what kind of man Kim Seong-won was, so the professor simply fell silent and returned to his original spot.
"Hm?"
Kim Seong-won glanced at the smart watch on his wrist, then pulled a smartphone from his pocket and walked off to one side.
—Hey. Director Choi. Quit screwing around and get to the Grand Auditorium....
As Kim Seong-won disappeared, the crowd's eyes naturally converged on Kang Han-na.
"Hey. Kang Han-na. Is it true someone other than the Chairman became Chief Proctor?"
"...This is the first I'm hearing of it as well."
That was the truth.
She had only gathered people because she was told to go outside and gather people.
She knew as little as anyone else standing here.
"Damn it... Did the Chairman drag in another old fossil who retired from some huge guild?"
"I'm busy as hell, what's with this assembly, for fuck's sake...."
Complaints erupted from all over.
If the order had come from any other professor, Kang Han-na would have reacted no differently from them.
'He looked exactly the same as back then.......'
Only his attire had changed a little.
He was exactly the same as eight years ago.
The disheveled hair, the large glasses. Even that deep, weighty voice.
'...No. Get a grip, Kang Han-na.'
This was no time to be swooning over a man.
One misstep and she could be implicated in that incident herself. How could she be zoning out so carelessly?
She rubbed the wrist that Kim Gyeong-ho had grabbed, as if to mask her unease.
He must have held on tightly; it was still throbbing.
'......It was broken.'
That familiar sound she'd heard from Kim Gyeong-ho's wrist when he grabbed her.
It was unmistakably the sound of breaking bone.
Kim Gyeong-ho's reaction had confirmed it.
'Just what kind of person is he?'
Unlike the professors gathered here, Kim Gyeong-ho had been a Sky-blue Ring holder, a rank above.
Even on pure ability alone, if ten of the professors here attacked him at once, they still wouldn't be able to handle Kim Gyeong-ho.
And that man had fractured Kim Gyeong-ho's wrist by some unknown method.
'......Why did he show up only now?'
After all that searching she had done.
Kang Han-na had resolved to stop thinking about Baek Woo-jin, but before she knew it, her mind was full of him again.
Click.
The sound from behind instantly silenced the bustling auditorium.
Kang Han-na cut her thoughts short and snapped back to attention.
"......Huh?"
"Kim Gyeong-ho... Professor...?"
The faces of those who had been brimming with discontent went slack with stupor, eyes wide, mouths slightly agape.
Unable to contain her curiosity, Kang Han-na turned her head.
'Holy shit....'
She wasn't making a stupid face like the others, but she was just as shocked.
Kim Gyeong-ho, clutching his grotesquely swollen right hand, walked out with a face drained of all color.
'He's completely terrified....'
To put it nicely, Kim Gyeong-ho had a rugged, wild charm. To be honest, he just looked mean. And he was heading for the auditorium door with the face of a man about to die.
And then.
"Is anyone missing?"
"Huh?"
Kang Han-na's eyes flew open at the mellifluous voice that came from right beside her, a dumb sound escaping her lips.
She turned her head. Baek Woo-jin was standing next to her as if he had always been there.
He repeated his question to her.
"I asked if this is everyone."
"Ah, yes, yes. Everyone. It's everyone."
"Good."
At her answer, Baek Woo-jin nodded once, then lightly stamped his foot toward the crowd, their eyes still fixed on Kim Gyeong-ho.
Boom—!!
The auditorium, designed to remain absolutely still unless the ground itself split apart, shook violently.
"Wh-what the!?"
"An attack?!"
"The equipment, the equipment!!"
The auditorium erupted into chaos.
There, Baek Woo-jin opened his mouth.
【Quiet.】
A voice laden with such powerful will it bored into their ears as clearly as a whisper right beside them, yet carried immense authority.
"......?"
"Uh......."
The auditorium had descended into confusion in an instant, and even faster, it was restored to complete silence.
Baek Woo-jin confirmed that every eye was on him before speaking again.
"I have gathered you to give a warning and an opportunity."
Someone might have raised a question under normal circumstances, but with the addition of his will behind his voice, no one dared interrupt Baek Woo-jin.
They simply listened with half-dazed expressions.
"As of today, Kim Gyeong-ho, who just left, will be dismissed from his professorship. The reason is that he attempted to manipulate a specific student's evaluation."
Some already knew. Some were shocked to learn it for the first time.
"If you turn yourselves in now, I promise it will end with a simple dismissal."
Baek Woo-jin looked each of the ring-wearing professors in the face, one by one.
"Furthermore, if any of you know of such facts, report them to me. No evidence is needed. Simply inform me of the fact."
Baek Woo-jin turned his head and tossed the Sky-blue Ring to Kang Han-na.
"Oh......?"
She caught the ring in a daze and looked up at him.
"Your grade will drop to Brown, but from now on, Kang Han-na, you will take over Kim Gyeong-ho's lectures."
"......Huh? M-Me...?"
Baek Woo-jin gave a single nod and looked back at those gathered before him.
"This is the opportunity I offer you. As for the existing professors, I will give you a chance to raise your grade. If you don't want that, you may ask for something else."
Creeeak—
Just then, the back door of the auditorium opened. Kim Seong-won entered with a middle-aged man who had a full head of hair, but upon sensing the atmosphere inside, promptly retreated backward and vanished.
Baek Woo-jin turned away as he spoke.
"Don't worry about retaliation."
He adjusted his slightly slipping glasses and grasped the door handle to the Chief Proctor's office, his voice low.
"I will ensure you never cross paths with them again."
With those final words, Baek Woo-jin went back into the Chief Proctor's office.
Even after he was gone, no one in the room—including Kang Han-na—spoke or moved.
They simply stared blankly at the proctor's office door that Baek Woo-jin had closed behind him, as if entranced by something.
Swoosh—
As a strange silence settled over the auditorium, Kim Seong-won and Academic Affairs Director Choi Seok-hee slunk inside.
"What are you all standing around for? Aren't you going to finish your work? Professors, you call yourselves... tsk tsk."
Clicking his tongue at the dumbstruck professors and staff, Kim Seong-won fled into the Chief Proctor's office.
As the door to the proctor's office closed, one of the professors murmured while staring at it.
"I wonder if that guy has any dirt on him...."