The Perks of Being a Servant in a High-Class House
They say if you’re going to work as a servant, you should do it in a grand mansion. After receiving his textbooks from Professor Heinz, Kyle headed straight to the dormitory. He had expected at least a double or quadruple room, but the tower-shaped dormitory, reinforced with Space Expansion Magic, provided every student with a private room. From the outside, the tower didn't look nearly large enough to house hundreds of people, yet here he was, in his own personal space.
"It's huge!"
The moment he stepped inside, Kyle threw his arms up and dove face-first into the bed. He’d heard there were several dormitories, and that the rooms grew larger as one advanced to higher grades, but this room was already twice the size of any place he’d lived in before. That alone was enough to leave him stunned.
"This is a single room?"
By his estimation, it was about 18 pyeong (approx. 640 sq. ft.). 'If we squeezed in, fifteen people could sleep here,' he thought. Come to think of it, between his past life and this one, he had never lived in a room this big. With one major problem solved, he felt like nothing but happiness awaited him.
As he rolled around to test the softness of the mattress, Kyle stared blankly at the ceiling. "The books are taken care of, too." Though, it still bothered him that the professor had suddenly jumped to such a strange conclusion.
"Why did you buy up all the textbooks, boy?"
No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't grasp what the professor meant. "Well, it’s not important." What mattered was that books worth three gold coins were now in his hands. He lay on the bed and opened one of the textbooks. Rustle. As he flipped through the worn pages, the distinct scent of old paper wafted up. The books were filled with someone’s years of effort and dedication. Heinz had even scribbled explanations in the margins here and there.
"Oh, he wrote these out in such detail."
Since the notes were right there for the parts he found difficult, he actually started to enjoy studying. He had never stayed up all night or pushed his body to the limit for the sake of his rank before, but for today, he felt like he had to pull an all-nighter. That was the only way to keep up with those noble brats!
"I’ll have to catch up starting from today’s lesson. But the desk placement is a bit awkward."
The sunset light was stabbing right into his eyes, so he drew the curtains and sat back down. In the darkened room, with only the soft glow of a candle flickering, he began to condense Mana in the palm of his hand. It was the content for the next lesson, but this part wasn't difficult. He tried to move on to Shape Transformation, but even after dozens, hundreds of attempts, it wouldn't go right.
"I just want to finish this one thing."
Was it because he kept releasing his mana? Feeling the fatigue set in, Kyle started to stretch. "It’s not morning yet, is it?" He opened the curtains to check, but the moonlight was shining brightly. Realizing not as much time had passed as he thought, he decided to push a little further. "Earlier, those other guys had a completely different amount of mana manifestation..."
As he practiced increasing the amount of mana released outside his body, his head suddenly slumped onto the desk. It was Mana Exhaustion.
Before class began, rumors started to spread through the classroom. The atmosphere was quite different from the first day of school; the students had finally started talking to one another. Their main topic of conversation was Kyle. The two students who had stayed behind with Kyle yesterday had heard Heinz’s words and started the gossip. Three days later, the rumors had grown even more elaborate.
"So, this guy named Kyle swept up all the textbooks?"
"That’s what I heard! I heard it when he was with Professor Heinz the other day."
"And he hasn't shown up to school for four days now. What kind of guy is he?"
"Exactly. Does anyone here actually know him?"
"There’s a rumor he’s the professor’s grandson."
Not only were there rumors about him being a grandson, but people were saying that since Kyle was aiming for the Department of Commerce, he had planned this whole thing to make a fortune at the academy. Stories about him being someone’s illegitimate child or the son of a great merchant were being tossed around freely. Jeremy, a professor in the Department of Commerce, heard these whispers in the hallway and smiled with anticipation.
"As it happens, I’ll be teaching that class."
The classes weren't officially set yet. It was just a temporary group gathered before the students were sorted based on their first-semester grades. Jeremy chuckled, imagining Kyle. 'This is the best part about the Imperial Academy.'
Other academies had so-called "lineages" and "genealogies." It was a system where close connections between nobles were passed down through generations, and they shared information among themselves. But that was impossible here. The Imperial Academy strictly prohibited graduates and dropouts from leaking information about the school to prevent the loss of educational systems and knowledge. Therefore, the only way to get information was to receive it directly from upperclassmen after entering the academy. But even that was impossible for now, as first-year, first-semester students were kept strictly isolated from everyone else. During this time, they used the Second Annex entirely to themselves.
Because of this, professors focused on identifying the "gems" during this period. And they tried to secure them early—Jeremy was no different.
"This will end starting from the second semester, but... these kinds of unexpected situations are always fun."
Kyle had already been branded as a villain by the students. But Jeremy viewed it from a different perspective. The students seemed to judge Kyle’s actions as selfish, but Jeremy focused on his unparalleled execution. A situation caused by students who had "darkened" in the second semester of their first year—and a commoner who hadn't even received proper education had pulled it off?
"Not a noble, not a merchant's son, but a commoner... I don't know how he bought all those books, but..."
He couldn't deny that he was intrigued. As soon as Jeremy entered Kyle’s classroom, talk of Kyle poured out.
"Quiet."
Bang! He slammed the attendance book onto the desk, and the room went silent. Jeremy picked up the book and smiled broadly when he saw Kyle’s name. 'I’m looking forward to this.' What kind of kid was he to pull off such a cute stunt?
"Hmm?"
He scanned the students in the lecture hall, but Kyle was nowhere to be seen. "I’ll be calling attendance, so answer loudly."
"Yes!"
Seeing the students answer loudly, he clicked his tongue in disappointment. 'Tsk, he said he wouldn't come to school, but to skip my class too?' He felt a pang of regret, but after thinking about it for a moment, he realized something. It was because there was no one as crazy as this kid.
"Pfft. Hahahaha!"
The students flinched at Jeremy’s sudden burst of laughter, but Jeremy just wiped his eyes with his sleeve and started calling roll. 'He really is a madman!' Once he grasped the intent behind Kyle’s absence, he liked his guts even more. 'That’s right. If you’ve secured a superior position as a merchant...' He instinctively knew that you had to keep people on edge to shake their reason. Keeping them anxious until the very moment before the Magic Department class next week—that was Kyle’s goal.
Students who swept up textbooks in the first semester of their first year usually met a pathetic end. If they were going to be hated anyway, they should have committed to being the villain, but they usually ended up just raising the price a little or selling them at list price. Some even distributed them for free, thinking it would be an apology. In the end, they just lost money and ruined their image.
'So that’s why he hasn't shown up until now. Timing-wise, it’s either today or Saturday.'
But since he didn't show up today, it was obviously Saturday. He would come to school tomorrow, and he would take the lead in price negotiations over time! It was, in effect, a hardline declaration. Jeremy, guessing that this was the reason he hadn't come to school today, continued to admire him inwardly and gripped his pen tightly.
'To think there’d be a kid like this.' He had been a professor at the Imperial Academy for over ten years, and he had never seen a madman like this before.
"Ka... no, Kyles."
"Yes!"
Professor Jeremy, who had been calling attendance, didn't call Kyle’s name out loud but carefully checked him off as present.
"Haa..."
Jeremy was already looking forward to next week. 'No, I should go see him at school tomorrow.'
Ding-dong. When the bell rang to signal the end of class, Jeremy headed to his office with quick steps, but he narrowed his brows as he saw Heinz running toward him from the side. 'Why is this old man here? Is he looking for me?' They didn't have a bad relationship, but they weren't close enough for him to come looking for him like this. Just as he was wondering, he looked at Heinz, who was gasping for air, with a dry gaze.
"Hey, Jeremy! Huff. Huff."
"What is the matter, Professor Heinz?"
"I came because I have something to tell you about Kyle."
"Haa..."
It seemed like he was asking him to yield because he had his eyes on him first, so Jeremy muttered in a low voice.
"Paralyze."
His intent was correct, but Heinz was left frustrated, unable to even mention that Kyle wasn't the one who had bought the textbooks. Paralysis Magic. Jeremy had paralyzed his own auditory organs and surrendered himself to the quiet peace.
"Hey! Listen to me! Kyle is..."
"I apologize, Professor. I don't intend to leave any room for negotiation regarding this student."
"No, it’s a misunderstanding! First, let’s have a cup of tea..."
Heinz, who had suggested tea, stared at the door that had slammed shut with a thud! and broke into a cold sweat. "He’s a kid who at least listens to reason, so why!"
Heinz went straight up to the classroom to find Kyle, and the students who saw him jumped up and bowed their heads. "Good afternoon, Professor!"
Heinz didn't care one way or the other and peered into the classroom. Unable to find the person he was looking for, he had no choice but to speak.
"Uh, yeah. Is this all the students?"
"Yes."
"Haa..."
Why on earth has this kid been holed up in the dormitory for days?
After waking up, Kyle checked his progress one last time before heading to school, bathed in the early dawn light. The books contained notes about being careful of Mana Exhaustion, and fortunately, he had managed to wake up just in time.
"Whew. This should be enough."
Following the books, he moved mana from inside his body to the outside, and from the outside to the inside. He had mastered Mana Manifestation, the lesson for today, and the Breathing Technique, the lesson for next week! He was just a tiny bit away from Shape Transformation! Kyle stood up, stretching his arms.
"At this rate, I’ll be able to keep up with the Magic Department."
It would be tiring to keep up such a forced march every day, but compared to his time as a student in South Korea, this was manageable. It felt like only a few hours had passed. He opened the curtains to find it was pitch black outside. Suddenly feeling hungry, Kyle headed to the cafeteria.
"So, operating mana makes you hungrier than usual."
Kyle realized that the reason mages cost so much money could also be found in their food expenses. He pushed open the cafeteria door and looked around. However, there was no food left from the self-service buffet. While he was looking around for a while, the chef, who was cleaning up, ran over with quick steps.
"Young Master, is something the matter?"
"Is there anything left to eat?"
"Well, there is... but it’s only food that commoners like us eat."
'So it really was closing time.' It was a pity he hadn't paid attention to the time, as the clock was only in the center of the academy annex. 'It was being sold at the academy internal shop...' All the shops were long closed, and the school cafeteria was just about to lock up. Knowing this, Kyle smiled and said,
"Could I have a little of that?"
"Are you sure? It’s truly food that only commoners eat."
"Yes, that’s fine."
"I’ll bring it to you right away."
The chef brought a meat stew and some crumbly rye bread and set it down in front of Kyle. He was sweating profusely, worried about what to do if he got scolded, but Kyle had been smelling the fragrant scent of herbs and well-cooked meat, so he started devouring it the moment the chef set it down.
'Why is a noble... eating that food so deliciously?' There were quite a few nobles who would have complained. And it wasn't even that food—it was just a simple meal that he or the servants would eat.
"Is it to your taste?"
"Yes. It’s really delicious."
As Kyle stuffed the stew into his mouth, he thought, 'They say if you’re going to work as a servant, you should do it in a grand mansion.' He was just happy about the meat in the stew.