Humans Are Cheaper Than You Think
Ever since I became Origin Academy's fourteenth instructor, my life had changed so drastically it deserved to be called a total upheaval.
Problems of food, clothing, and shelter had all been neatly resolved, and I'd even opened a bank account and received a flood of stipends under one heading or another. From an instructor's living allowance to personal research funds to the bounty for resolving the raid on the 3rd Research Institute — my wallet had grown fat overnight.
Even the house the academy had prepared for me was so luxurious that calling it top-tier felt like an understatement. The interior was so vast that sound rang and echoed through it, a refined, high-end residence from end to end. Anyone could tell at a glance that serious money had been poured into it, and a brand-new sense of loyalty to the academy welled up in me of its own accord.
The pressure I'd felt when I first accepted the post was gone without a trace. Now the dominant thought was that taking the job had been the right call.
They really do treat their people like royalty.
I started getting ready to go out, working the knotted muscles all over my body as I went. A full week had already passed since I started training with Sayulcheon, and this muscle soreness showed no sign of easing. It wasn't that one bout of soreness lingered forever so much as that Sayulcheon pushed me right up to the edge of "not quite dying," so there was never a day my muscles were left alone.
Still, the work wasn't without results. The unsightly soft fat had been gone for a while now, and muscle was starting to define itself here and there. The thought that if I kept this up I might actually build a solid, impressive physique made the training almost enjoyable in its own way.
Even if "hard" is still hard.
I finished a quick shower and changed into a semi-formal suit I'd bought in advance. Money was more than plentiful, so I'd stocked up on everything from casual wear to full suits, but today I was meeting another of the academy's instructors. Instructors had free rein over their dress code, sure — but I had no intention of wrecking a first impression with a sloppy look.
Especially not today. I wanted a good relationship with the person I was about to meet.
In a world that's practically a wasteland for alchemy, she's from a house that's researched it for generations.
Charlotte van Hohenheim. Eldest daughter of the Hohenheim family, famous for alchemy, and currently the most renowned alchemist in the world. She was also a combat alchemist who swept battlefields with the Transmutation Circles she'd developed herself and those passed down through her line for generations — someone I couldn't have disliked even if I'd tried.
I never expected her to take an interest in me first.
Charlotte currently ran Origin Academy's alchemy division entirely on her own. The Hohenheim family had studied alchemy for generations and held its potential in the highest regard, and their eldest daughter was no different. A family whose temperament already lined up with mine — so I hadn't been surprised that our paths might cross. What I hadn't expected was for her to request a meeting herself before I'd even formally started teaching.
She said to come to her private lab in Building 12, right?
I still didn't have a smartphone, so I checked the address from the letter. District 5, Research Building 12 — Charlotte's private laboratory. The details were written out clearly.
The moment I finished preparing, I left the house. There was plenty of time before the appointment, so I walked, taking the chance to look around as I went. After a while, the academy gates came into view. It was a weekday with classes in session, and a few cadets and staff were hurrying about.
Those cadets heading in now must be late.
I smirked at a few of them moving with desperate urgency, then composed my expression as I approached the gate. One of the staff on duty came over.
"What brings you here? For campus entry, please fill out an application on this side and receive a pass."
I gave an awkward smile and dug through my pockets, then pulled out two cards and held them out to the staff member who'd been offering me the form. The moment he saw the ID and Origin Academy instructor's badge I'd been issued with Sayulcheon's help, his eyes went round.
"M-my apologies!"
"Haha. Easy enough to miss."
Cadets were usually identifiable by their uniforms, and the instructors were famous enough that ID checks rarely came up. I wasn't dressed in anything that clearly marked my status, and unlike the other instructors, my face wasn't well known. Aside from the day I'd been offered the post, I hadn't even come to the academy that often — so of course the staff didn't recognize me. At best, the evening gate staff who sometimes saw me when I trained with Sayulcheon would offer a greeting now and then.
District 5, Building 12 — that way should do it.
Once I was on campus, I found my way by recalling the routes I'd wandered in the game. District 5 was essentially a research complex. Origin Academy divided its vast grounds by purpose, so research facilities for alchemy, magic, and every other field were concentrated there. And even within District 5, Building 12 was special — a structure the headmaster had promised Charlotte when recruiting her as an instructor, built solely for alchemical research. It was also where Charlotte and a handful of alchemy hopefuls had more or less barricaded themselves, and the place I'd spent more time than anywhere else in the game.
No matter how many times I look at it, it's basically just a big warehouse.
For a dedicated alchemy lab, Building 12 was enormous — a little larger than a typical high school — and more than half of that space was given over to materials storage. Alchemy was a field of analyzing material structure and developing Transmutation Circles, after all, so the sheer variety of required materials was enormous.
"The headmaster has already decided this."
"And I'm just supposed to accept a one-sided notice like that?!"
The closer I got to Charlotte's private lab, the more unsettled the air became. From right outside the door, it sounded as though Charlotte was arguing with someone.
"Do you have any idea how hard I've worked as your assistant…!"
Knock, knock.
Just as the argument was heating up, I rapped on the door. The voices inside cut off, and for a moment silence settled over the room.
"Come in."
"Excuse me for a moment."
With Charlotte's permission I opened the door and stepped inside. A familiar room and familiar faces met my eyes. The somewhat chaotic state of the lab felt oddly more like home than my own house, and the two people in front of me left completely opposite impressions.
Ah. So it's this guy.
I'd been curious who would pick a fight with Charlotte — and the second I saw his face, my expression crumpled. Charlotte and the man both looked at me strangely when I pulled a face out of nowhere, but it had been a pure reflex. I couldn't help it.
James.
Copper skin, dark-blond hair that looked like it had been stained with grime, and a thick, heavy build. The textbook specimen of a tanned blond thug — and his insides were as black as his looks suggested. Someone I personally despised. Amid cadets who'd gathered out of pure love for alchemy and a hunger for learning, he was the one hanging around solely to get his hands on Charlotte.
This sacred alchemy lab where I was going to be indebted for a long time to come had no room for a troublemaking golden-haired parasite like him.
How should I crush this bastard?
In the game's side stories, he'd made me grind my teeth more times than I could count. He caused every bizarre incident imaginable and piled on petty, underhanded stunts for good measure. Better to stomp the sprout out early.
While I was thinking that, Charlotte studied me for a moment and let out a soft laugh.
"Perfect timing."
She propped her chin in her hand, glanced at James with a faintly dismissive air, and rose from her seat.
"It's a little unfortunate that our first meeting has to be under this kind of atmosphere, but I'm glad to meet you, Instructor Ryu Seojun."
"Not at all — I'm the one who's glad. Instructor Charlotte van Hohenheim."
"Charlotte is fine."
She came over and, right in front of James, clasped my hand for all to see. It was nothing more than a greeting and a handshake, but James's face twisted with open dislike, broadcasting his irritation. Charlotte and I, on the other hand, were practically beaming just from looking at each other. I certainly found James repulsive — and so did Charlotte, at this point in time. Even on a first meeting, that much seemed to pass between us through the handshake, and we put on a cheerfully amicable show specifically to stick it to him.
"I heard about you from Instructor Charlotte. You're the new instructor who just came in, right?"
"…Assistant James. Mind your manners. New or not, he is a full instructor of Origin Academy."
James had started in on me with a sharp edge, but Charlotte cut him off with a hard look. It naturally put her in the position of shielding me, and James clearly hated that even more — he bared his teeth at me in open hostility, then spat out a remark so asinine it made me wonder if his brain had filed a change-of-address form down to his lower half.
"Looking at you, you seem pretty scrawny. No mana in your body either. Isn't this just pure nepotism?"
"James!"
Charlotte's voice cracked like a whip. She'd already disliked him, and watching him do this out in the open was more than she could ignore.
I had no intention of sitting still either. I wasn't exactly a gentle soul — when someone picked a worthless fight, I had to hit back or I couldn't rest easy. Soft words going out only answered soft words coming in. And if I could pick up a clean excuse to crush this bastard while I was at it, so much the better.
"Instructor Charlotte, it's all right."
"But—!"
"Looks like I've thoroughly gotten under his skin. No need to force the issue."
I gave Charlotte a gentle smile, then opened the door and called James outside.
"Assistant James, was it? Come with me. If you've got something to say to me, I'll hear it."
I left the lab, and James followed with a snort of breath. We walked in silence all the way to the building entrance before James, as if he'd been waiting for the chance, opened his mouth.
"Listen. Whether you're an instructor or whatever, what strings you pulled to get in here — not my problem. But how about you stop sticking your nose in and keep quiet, huh?"
I had to laugh. It was the exact words and cadence of a pure thug, copied straight from the source. I didn't bother hiding the sound, and James, having clearly heard my mockery, dropped his voice.
"You look younger than me, too. Think it's funny that I can't even open my mouth around Charlotte?"
At least his self-awareness was on point. I'd heard enough. I turned to face him and raised my index finger.
"Fine. I've heard Assistant James's complaints loud and clear, so I'll say a few things myself."
James twisted the corner of his mouth up as if daring me to try. Maybe he thought he'd already intimidated me. I found myself wanting to replace that smirk-soaked expression with pure fear.
"Oxygen sixty-five percent. Carbon eighteen. Hydrogen nine-point-five. Nitrogen three-point-two. And various others at under one percent each."
"What?"
"That's the approximate composition of the main elements that make up the average human body."
I looked at him with a thin smile, and the aggression that had made it seem like he was about to hit me folded in an instant. Enjoying the sight, I walked past the now stiff-faced James and continued.
"For the price of ordering a single chicken delivery, even a child could buy every material needed for one human's worth of pseudo-transmutation."
Thud. My right hand settled on James's right shoulder. He was still thicker through the body thanks to the difference in muscle mass, but I had him by two or three finger-widths in height. Up close, I didn't give much ground in sheer presence.
"Assistant James. Humans are a rather cheaper existence than you seem to think."
"What the hell are you…"
"If you want someone replaced, it can be done anytime. If you want to use them as alchemical materials, that's just as easy."
I am always accepting new subjects for human-body transmutation experiments.
With that, I patted James's shoulder a few times and went back to Charlotte, who would be waiting in the lab.
And James did not return to the laboratory that day.