Entering the Academy (4)
A little more time passed, and every last freshman had filed into the classroom until not a single desk remained empty.
From the front doorway, a long, thin shadow slipped out and slithered across the floor like a snake, gliding straight toward the teacher’s podium.
It looked exactly like a serpent made of pure darkness, burrowing through the floor as it moved.
The classroom, which had been buzzing with excitement only moments before, froze solid in an instant.
Even the ability users who had earned their place at Korea’s top academy were still green kids under twenty. Only a handful of them had ever faced a real monster. When an unidentifiable phenomenon appeared right in front of those freshmen, their faces hardening into stiff masks was only natural.
The shadow reached the podium, coiled itself into a neat circle, and then darkness began to rise from it, slowly taking on a definite shape.
The only peculiar detail was that the form possessed two legs and two arms, just like a person.
At first the darkness could only mimic a human silhouette, but it did not take long before it solidified into a complete human outline.
The figure of darkness wore what looked like a long coat, the upper half hanging stiff and straight down past the waist.
Once the human shape was fully formed, color began to seep into it, and in the next breath it became a real man.
The man who rose from the shadow had deep, heavy dark circles under his eyes. His hair was so black it looked as though it had been dipped in ink and wrung out. His skin was pale, his frame tall and lean, and an inverted-triangle tattoo sat beneath his left eye.
His pupils were pure black, as if filled with the same ink. The man’s mouth opened.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Lee Gil-young, the teacher in charge of this class. Call me teacher or professor—whichever you prefer.”
Having said that, the man swept his gaze once around the classroom.
For some reason his eyes seemed to linger on me a little longer than on anyone else, but I told myself it was only my imagination.
After looking over the entire room, the man gave a single nod and spoke again.
“Good. Let’s start with this, then. Why did all of you come to Warna Academy? You there… ah, yes, Miss Lee Ye-rin. Why did you come to Warna Academy?”
He must have skimmed the roster before entering; Lee Gil-young called the student by name as he asked the question.
“M-me? I… uh, to get stronger…?”
The sky-blue-haired girl addressed as Lee Ye-rin stammered for a moment before answering.
Lee Gil-young nodded at her reply and continued.
“Of course. Most of you came here to grow stronger, to experience a wide range of abilities, or to build connections.
We welcome you. Here at Warna Academy you will experience many different abilities—”
He paused, drew a breath, and finished the sentence.
“…except curses, of course. You will form friendships with people from every field, and at the end of it all a far stronger version of yourselves will be waiting for you.”
Lee Gil-young pointed at himself with his index finger as he spoke.
“And you will gain that experience right here at Warna Academy. Just so we’re clear—try not to break the school rules if you can help it.
Minor things are fine, but school violence and other bothersome nonsense? Please use your own judgment and restrain yourselves. If things get weird, everyone ends up exhausted.
If you truly want to inflict violence or harm on each other, I’ll gladly show you to the sparring grounds. Fight ‘legally’ there. I can even set one up right now if you’d like.”
Lee Gil-young pointed with the same finger at a white line drawn on the floor.
Every student followed his gesture and stared at the line.
“This line was drawn for sparring. Inside it is your ground. Clear the desks and this classroom becomes a sparring arena. How about it? Doesn’t that get the blood pumping a little?
Still, don’t start sparring just yet. Just in case—really, just in case—is there anyone whose blood is already so hot that they were ready to fight before I even walked in, anyone who won’t feel satisfied until they’ve wrecked some part of the body of that guy they can’t stand?”
Lee Gil-young surveyed the silent classroom and nodded.
“Fortunately, no one. Good. In any case, you are now proud members of Warna Academy.
Starting tomorrow, just come straight to the classroom. Don’t go wandering off somewhere strange. That’s all I have to say. Dismissed. Go home.”
The moment he finished and looked ready to leave, one student hurriedly raised a hand.
“Yes, student. What is it?”
“When do we apply for the dorms?”
“Dorm applications open tomorrow. First-years can’t use the dorms for at least a week no matter how early they apply, so don’t go poking around the dorms—just go home quickly.”
With that final remark, Lee Gil-young once again became a shadow snake and shot out of the classroom.
It was like watching the earlier process in reverse: color drained from him, his form blurred and collapsed, and his body sank into the darkness until only a single long shadow remained.
Then it slithered like a snake and left the room—without even opening the front door, slipping straight through the crack.
Not what I expected.
The protagonist’s Class 4 was supposed to get a kind and beautiful female teacher. Why did our class end up with a man like this?
And not just any man—one who talked a great deal yet said only what he wanted to say and left, leaving a thoroughly strange first impression.
“He’s a bit… unique.”
“Actually, that makes him more interesting.”
“Looks like we got a fun teacher.”
The moment Lee Gil-young left, the students’ murmuring filled the air again.
It was fascinating, in its own way.
Just being in a different class changed the entire atmosphere this much.
Right about now Class 4 was probably spending a pleasant, harmonious time with their kind and beautiful female teacher.
Class 1, on the other hand, had a male teacher who appeared out of a shadow, said only what he needed to say, and vanished.
“Our homeroom teacher’s pretty unusual. Felt like he just said his piece and left.”
Kim Gabyul, who had somehow turned around again, spoke up.
“Haha, he seems like an interesting fellow. Quite a likable person, I must say.”
“He was interesting, sure. Didn’t exactly make me like him, though.”
Lee Gil-young… I had never heard the name before.
Even when I read the original novel before transmigrating, I had no memory of him.
The original focused almost entirely on Class 4, where the protagonist was. That was why Kim Gabyul, who was in a different class from the protagonist, had so little screen time.
He might have been mentioned once or twice, but I didn’t remember the original that thoroughly.
Even after transmigrating I had never heard the name Lee Gil-young.
Of course, I hadn’t exactly been busy after arriving. I had contracted with Marbas and learned black magic, but I hadn’t gone around gathering information.
If I’d known the teacher would be like this, maybe I should have gone looking for some intel first.
The classroom that had fallen silent while Lee Gil-young was present quickly grew noisy again.
Some students were packing their bags to leave; others kept chatting with people they already knew.
Kim Gabyul had already slung her bag over her shoulder and was ready to go.
“Are you leaving?”
“Yeah. You’re not?”
“I have some business nearby, you see.”
At my words Kim Gabyul tilted her head.
“Going to kill someone?”
“Kill? How could you say something so harsh!”
If things went sideways a few people might end up dead, sure, but to slander me like that—unforgivable.
Apparently she took my answer as a joke, because Kim Gabyul let out a short snort of laughter.
“Fine, just don’t kill too many. See you.”
I waved at her retreating back.
I stared at the rear classroom door for a while, then pulled out my phone and opened the contacts.
The very first name that appeared at the top was the three syllables “Kim Gabyul.”
We had exchanged numbers earlier.
Because her surname was Kim, she occupied the very first line of the list.
[To be this fond of her… tsk tsk. With a contractor like this, this body’s dignity simply cannot be maintained.]
Marbas muttered something or other, but none of it really registered.
Exchanging contacts with your favorite person—wasn’t that basically a successful life?
What did the grumbling of a single demon matter?
I stood up from my seat as well.
Since we had finished early today, there was somewhere I needed to visit.
Inside a room steeped in refined luxury, a black-haired woman in a suit sat in a chair.
Before her, a brown-haired woman likewise dressed in a suit stood at respectful attention, delivering her report.
“Reporting. The growth of the currently contracted mercenaries remains stable, and as a result our company’s combat strength continues to increase steadily.
As for the dungeon matter you instructed us to handle, the Black Crow unit has just begun its investigation.”
“I see.”
When the black-haired woman answered, the brown-haired woman nodded and continued.
“Next, regarding Baek Sejin-nim—this is information you have already received, but after Yeong-sa reported discovering Baek Sejin-nim in the class under his charge, we have confirmed that he has just left the academy. That concludes my report for the moment.”
The brown-haired woman in the suit finished her report to the black-haired woman seated in the chair.
“…Understood. You may go.”
“Yes.”
At the black-haired woman’s reply, the brown-haired woman bowed politely and left the room.
A few minutes after she departed, the black-haired woman—who had been lost in thought—rose from the chair and gazed out the window.
“Why aren’t you coming back…?”