Chapter 94
Chapter 94
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 94
Chapter Title: No Teacher for Destiny (5)
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The latest high-rise building at the center of the northern island of the academy.
On its top floor, in the VIP room, a middle-aged man called Nikolai Isa stared out beyond the glass window.
The night view of the academy reflecting in his hazy, alcohol-glazed eyes was different from usual.
The once-beautiful scenery was gone, replaced by heavy machinery and workers tirelessly pushing through restoration efforts.
It was a vulgar sight that didn't suit the academy at all.
At least, that's how Nikolai Isa saw it.
'Damn it.'
He scowled bitterly and continued his thoughts.
This was all the fault of the traditionalists, led by the principal.
Idiots who couldn't read the times, locking the academy's doors with talk of the founder's will and outdated traditions.
In an era that transcended global boundaries and even crossed dimensions, what was so sacred about those petty traditions?
Was it really that hard to share technology with the great powers and sneak in a few high-profile families through the back door?
The benefits and influence that would follow were immense!
All the other prestigious schools were already doing it...
—Ding-dong.
The doorbell snapped Nikolai out of his reverie. He turned from the night view and checked the intercom.
"What is it? What's the problem?"
On the other side of the intercom stood the building manager, looking flustered.
—Sir, um... you have a guest.
"A guest? I specifically said no visitors!"
Nikolai slammed the intercom in frustration.
—No, I mean...
The manager, who would normally panic and cut the connection, clamped his lips shut and glanced nervously.
Not at him, but at someone beyond the intercom.
"You little..."
Now even trash like you ignores me? Just as Nikolai was about to erupt in anger.
Someone leaned into view on the intercom.
—It's me, Nikolai.
An elderly Asian man with piercing eyes. Nikolai's jaw dropped upon seeing his face.
"...Minister Kim Gwan-hyeong?"
—Can you spare a moment?
Nikolai couldn't dare refuse.
He buzzed the door open via intercom and hurriedly straightened his clothes to prepare for the guest.
By the time he had shoved the scattered bottles and trash into the bin.
Creak.
The VIP room door opened, and two Asian men entered.
An elderly man in an elegant suit and a bald-headed man who screamed bodyguard.
"Please, Minister. What brings you to this humble place... If you'd called ahead, I could've arranged something better."
Nikolai bowed obsequiously as he greeted the elder. The old man smiled warmly and patted his shoulder.
"You're the valuable one here. An old fogey like me isn't worth much compared to someone contributing to humanity's future like you."
After the formal pleasantries, the two sat facing each other at the luxurious table.
"Um... Minister, what exactly brings you here...?"
No sooner had Nikolai cautiously broach the subject than Minister Kim Gwan-hyeong cut him off.
"Nikolai Isa. Let me be direct with a proposal. How about working with us on something?"
"..."
Us?
Nikolai Isa instinctively knew the "us" this old man referred to was no lightweight faction.
He was a Korean minister, and Korea was at the forefront of external forces pressuring the academy to open its technology.
"What... do you want from me?"
"It's nothing difficult. The principal's plan is really getting in our way. It'd be great if you'd side with us."
The principal's plan? Nikolai wanted to ask what it was but swallowed the question.
Pretending to know what you didn't. That was the politician's rhetoric he knew well.
"May I ask exactly what kind of help you're looking for?"
"It'd be perfect if you could approve academy visits for some of our people."
"...That's all?"
Nikolai blinked in surprise. Academy visit permits?
Why come to him for something so simple?
Even with tightened security after the terrorist attack, as long as identities checked out, visits were no issue...
"By any chance, are the people needing permits... somewhat dangerous individuals?"
At Nikolai's stammering question, the old man chuckled softly.
"Oh come now, dangerous individuals? Not the kind you think. They're officially recognized by Korea—capable educators."
"...Meaning?"
The old man didn't answer right away. He licked his dry lips and paused dramatically.
As Nikolai held his breath cautiously and the bodyguard's cold eyes swept over them.
The minister spoke again.
"Truth is, she's already inside the academy."
"What do you... mean?"
"Those damn rats froze us out. We were late figuring out the principal's plan because of them. It was so sudden... We had to rush."
Rushed? No way?
"...You want me to make it look like I invited someone who trespassed without permission?"
"Haha, come on. Trespassing? You can't put it like that."
"..."
"You're ex-military, so you get it. In emergencies, you sometimes act first and report later. Think of it that way?"
Nikolai couldn't hide his flustered expression.
Regardless, the old man pulled a small vial from his pocket and offered it.
It was filled with a liquid shimmering iridescently—clearly a potion to anyone.
And a potion that glowed like this... there was only one.
"...Awakening Potion?"
The potion that could turn even the talentless into a mana user—a mage—with a one-in-five chance.
Greed flickered in Nikolai's eyes as he stared at it.
"...We have important stakes in this too. You know about those sisters, right?"
Nikolai instantly knew which sisters the old man meant.
None had made freshman rep, but each ranked top three in martial arts, magic, and divine studies.
Especially Osiri, who entered magic at rank two—even Dean Gadan of the magic faculty had his eye on her.
...Is the principal's plan connected to them?
As Nikolai's mind raced, the minister continued in a sly tone.
"...Heard your son recently flunked out of the Moscow Superhuman Training Institute?"
"That's..."
"Moscow's too harsh. Dropping a talent like your son just for late mana sensitivity."
The minister's voice tickled Nikolai's ears like a devil's whisper.
"Handle this well, and the potion's yours."
Nikolai couldn't refuse the offer.
***
Lord Howe Academy's first-year girls' dorm, sixth floor.
Packed with labs for aspiring mages, the floor was a hotbed of chaos as expected.
—If I add the Tullen formula here... Ah, damn it... Why! Why won't it work!
—Positive charge and negative charge! Heed my call... Eek!
Students driven mad wrestling with magic formulas, idiots practicing attack spells and zapping themselves with lightning.
—Hey, you crazy bitches! Cut it out!
—This dorm isn't just for you!
—At least go to the training room like the martial arts kids!
Even the aspiring priests gathered in the fifth-floor shrine yelling in frustration only quieted things briefly.
The magic students soon resumed their antics.
In the end, the priests were the ones waving the white flag again.
They knew from the past few days' experience.
These insane mages wouldn't stop until lights-out.
They fled to the quieter third floor below or plugged their ears, treating it as a trial while praying.
An outsider might call it a fitting sight for a superhuman dorm...
But Siri's thoughts, sitting in the central sixth-floor lobby, were different.
'...What a bunch of clowns.'
To her, the root of all this madness was the recent terrorist attack on the academy.
More precisely, the exploits of the first-year students who stopped it.
Only one magic student had stepped up at the forefront.
Pitiful compared to the four martial arts superhumans.
Even among aspiring priests, only the Saintess had advanced, but was she just any priest aspirant?
And though they didn't shine in combat, the priests had supported with healing.
The magic department? Excluding Soemiri, who fought, they were dead weight.
No staff or wand, no memorized spells... excuses galore.
But no excuse hid the fact they'd just cowered behind their classmates.
...Anyway, the magic students were pulling this stunt to shake off that helplessness.
Even their freshman rep, the 'Vessel,' was holed up in her room obsessed with research...
'Huh?'
Siri's gaze caught someone ascending the central stairs.
A black-haired student with a small warhammer. A girl Siri knew well.
"...Seti unnie?"
Not the fifth-floor shrine—what brought her to the sixth?
Siri jumped up and trotted over. Her sister spotted her and let out what seemed like a sigh of relief.
"...Siri."
For some reason, her sister's expression looking at her was off.
"Unnie? What's wrong?"
"Do you have your phone on you?"
"...Huh? Phone? Of course."
Such a serious face for that? Did she break it again?
Siri chuckled and pulled her phone from her uniform pocket, but her sister spoke.
"Contact Third Sis and Little Sis. Tell them to get to the rooftop ASAP."
Her voice was laced with urgent worry.
Siri finally realized she wasn't joking.
"...Rooftop? What the hell's going on?"
"I'll explain up top. Contact them first."
Siri shot her a puzzled look but messaged her sisters.
[Millions of millions of millions of flowers...]
A tacky ringtone played, followed by a familiar voice.
—Hey, you gasbag. What at this hour?
"Second Unnie's orders. Get to the rooftop ASAP."
—Unnie? Shit, I'm naked.
Siri debated playing along, then glanced at Seti.
Seti still looked grave.
"...Cut the crap and hurry up! Oh, is Little Sis there?"
—Yeah, does she come too?
"Of course Little Sis too! ASAP! Got it?"
—Tsk, gonna bust my eardrums. If this is a prank, you're dead...
Siri snapped the phone shut and turned to Seti with an expectant look.
But Seti gestured to follow and started up the stairs instead of explaining.
In the end, Siri asked first.
"Unnie, what the hell is this about?"
"...Tonight, we're breaking the seal."
Siri thought she'd misheard and looked up at her sister's face.
No trace of a smile, deadly serious. A face she hadn't seen since Superhuman Olympia.
"How? No, why now?"
"Once all sisters are here, I'll explain at once."
Siri almost pressed further but shut her mouth and followed Seti to the rooftop.
Just two floors up, and they arrived in a flash.
Oddly, the rooftop door—which should have been locked—was wide open, as if unlocked by some spell.
Anyway, the first thing Siri saw upon opening it...
"...Unnie? Why's that guy here?"
The answer came not from Seti, but someone else.
"Long time no see, Siri."
Under the dim rooftop lights, a man with glowing golden eyes.
"Hu, illusion magic? Why's Yeomyeong oppa in the girls' dorm?"
Siri blinked, then rubbed her eyes.
But no matter how much she rubbed, Yeomyeong stood in the center, facing her and Seti.
...Not fake?
Siri whipped her head to her sister.
"...Unnie, are you insane?"
"..."
"Bringing a guy into the dorm! You'll both get expelled...!"
As her voice rose, someone behind her clamped a hand over her mouth.
Who dares? Siri turned to see another familiar face.
"...Weird-name unnie roommate."
A beauty with golden hair tied to the side: Soemiri.
The one magic student who'd stepped up during the attack—why here?
"...Isn't it rich coming from you sisters?"
Yeomyeong tried to lighten the mood with a joke, but Siri wasn't in the mood.
She shoved Soemiri's hand away.
"Whoever, just explain what's going on."
But the answer was the same again.
"...Once all sisters are here. Wait a bit."
Hearing her sister's cool reply, Siri let out a hollow laugh, but that was it.
She trusted her. Her sister wouldn't harm them.
Siri stood by the rooftop entrance, watching Soemiri, Seti, and Yeomyeong prepare.
Soemiri wielded a wand with a green gem, drawing a magic circle—probably to block sound and light.
Seti followed, infusing mana into it.
But Yeomyeong stood out most.
He pulled something gold and glowing from his pocket, stood at the circle's center, and began gathering mana.
No clue what's what, but it's no joke.
Siri waited quietly.
Then, two sets of footsteps—definitely her sisters—echoed from the stairs below.
—Ring ring.
Her phone buzzed.
All eyes on the rooftop turned, but Siri casually checked the number.
The next instant, her face drained of color.
"Uh... Unnie."
"Siri? What's wrong suddenly?"
"Th-that bitch... It's her number."
"...What?"
That bitch. Seti snatched the phone at the word.
Seti's face hardened at the name on screen.
[Shepherd 10-11-16]
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