Something Wrong With the Plot (2)
It seemed she already knew me. That bold, sharp voice. The relaxed gaze and the slight curl at the corner of her mouth. Her confidence soared straight into the sky. Behind her, Yoo Hee-won’s father was watching me. Multiple broadcast cameras were trained in this direction as well. That part felt a little burdensome.
Still, I kept my expression completely neutral and answered with a faint smile.
“Yes. I am Kyo Suhyeon.”
“Basic Defense, right?”
“Correct. It appears you already know about me.”
“I’ll be attending this academy. Isn’t it only natural to do this much preliminary research?”
Yoo Hee-won gave an eye-smile far too mature for her age.
“I understand you’ve never taken on students as an advisor before. Is there a reason?”
“It’s simply because I judged that my abilities are not yet sufficient to shoulder such an important responsibility.”
“Hmm…”
Yoo Hee-won looked me up and down. It was the sort of gaze a child might wear while picking out a favorite toy in a shop.
“Or could it be that you simply haven’t met a student worth teaching yet? This year might be different.”
Her speech was extremely direct. She was already signaling her intention to choose me as her advisor, and it was clear she hadn’t even considered the possibility of rejection. Well, from my perspective that was actually convenient. Linking up with a heroine was a perfectly natural step in my process of escaping this world.
“Of course. If the student wishes, I will teach you anytime.”
“My parents would be delighted if that happened.”
I glanced past her shoulder at the Advisory Chairman of the Management Bureau. So becoming an advisor came with various personal perks. I see. That made sense. But… I had encountered a heroine, yet no quest or anything similar had appeared. Was there a prerequisite task, such as raising affinity? Or would it only trigger after I officially became an advisor? Hmm… I couldn’t be sure.
Having apparently said everything she wanted, Yoo Hee-won gave me one last smile and turned away without hesitation. The broadcast reporters, instead of following her, swarmed toward me. After all, the only daughter of the immensely powerful Advisory Chairman of the Management Bureau had approached me first; how could they not be curious?
The reporters thrust their microphones forward.
“Excuse us, but are you an academy professor?”
“Yes.”
“What is your relationship with Yoo Hee-won?”
“We met for the first time today.”
“We saw you conversing earlier—what were you talking about?”
“Nothing of importance.”
“Oh come on, give us something!”
My short answers only made the reporters bombard me with even fiercer questions. Most concerned my connection to Yoo Hee-won; a few were about me personally.
“I’m afraid I cannot answer any more questions. Academy professors are not permitted to give interviews to the press without prior approval.”
Besides, I had already been standing in the cold wind for far too long, and the stream of new students entering through the main gate was now tapering off. I turned away from the reporters and began walking toward the auditorium.
“Was there perhaps some kind of backroom deal regarding the basic evaluation?”
At those words, Professor Jin Se-yeong stepped forward, radiating a terrifying aura. As a former flight-specialized hero, she possessed physical abilities honed by exposure to several times—or even dozens of times—normal gravity. Ordinary journalists couldn’t withstand the pressure she emitted; they faltered and retreated.
“Listen, everyone! I already told you! You cannot conduct interviews without permission!”
The energy only heroes could wield—Aura. Professor Jin Se-yeong’s aura was so overwhelming that even I felt suppressed. It was so ferocious that the very pavement beneath her feet began to sink slightly.
“Stop making this worse and get to the auditorium!”
As the reporters scattered in panic, Professor Jin approached my side.
“Are you all right, Professor Kyo?”
“I’m fine. Thank you.”
“No need to thank me. Still…”
Professor Jin clicked her tongue as she watched the new students filing into the auditorium.
“That Yoo Hee-won really has no manners at all.”
“Indeed.”
“Didn’t it bother you?”
“Not particularly.”
I truly wasn’t bothered. I had just confirmed that events were proceeding exactly according to the original story in which I become the heroine’s advisor. Moving forward while already knowing the future was far safer and more advantageous for me. It was only natural.
Now then, what exactly was I supposed to do after taking Yoo Hee-won as my student? It would probably be the typical development—Raise Yoo Hee-won to S-class, or something along those lines. Once the objective was completed, I could return to my original world.
In most novels, the possessed character simply stayed in that world and enjoyed a happy ending. I had zero intention of doing so. My current body was in an extremely frail state, after all. An unknown pulmonary disease whose cause no hospital could identify. What kind of happy ending could possibly be waiting for me in a body like this? Returning to my original healthy self was clearly the better choice.
Still… even the timing of the possession was off. It seemed our novice author was clumsy even at the basics of isekai.
I let out a small chuckle, only to accidentally meet Professor Jin’s eyes. Mistaking the smile for being directed at her, she gave me a bright, playful wink.
The auditorium was packed with new students, current students, and professors alike; there was barely room to stand. It was a relief that the professors had seats behind the podium—otherwise I might have been crushed and suffocated by the crowd.
I sat down and scanned the new students gathered in the center. Yoo Hee-won seemed to have been watching me the entire time; every time I glanced in her direction, our eyes met.
Soon the dean ascended the podium, and our academy’s entrance ceremony—its exact number lost to memory—began. After the dean’s predictably dull greeting, the administrative director recited the academy’s long history. Since I already knew all of it from the original novel, I paid little attention.
Next came the introductions of the faculty members who would be teaching the new students. Each professor sitting behind the podium was called forward in turn to give a brief greeting. Recovery, regeneration, and healing. Superhuman strength. Information acquisition and operations. Electronic warfare. Basic military science. International agreements and current Management Bureau law. Operation of various equipment and facilities. The list was staggering.
Not only combat against villains, but an overwhelmingly vast curriculum required to maintain world peace and order.
And then—
“Next, Professor Kyo Suhyeon of Basic Defense.”
As I slowly rose and walked forward, the new students began to murmur. That guy from the main gate. He’s handsome. He looks sick. Didn’t know he was a professor. Fragments of chatter reached my ears.
“Hello. I am Professor Kyo Suhyeon, instructor of Basic Defense.”
The broadcast cameras behind the students all fired their flashes at once, making me frown slightly. I caught a murmur that sounded suspiciously like “He looks even more handsome when he frowns.”
“Most of you will likely find Basic Defense quite unfamiliar. You may think of it as the technique for generating a barrier that blocks physical attacks. However, by the time you graduate, you will be able to block bullets with your bare bodies, rendering the skill rather obsolete.”
It was the truth. This was precisely why my specialty had become a non-mainstream subject.
“Therefore, after graduation, you will probably remember me less as ‘Professor Kyo Suhyeon’ and more as ‘There was this gloomy gray professor at the academy. What was his name again?’ Assuming, of course, that you remember me at all by then.”
Laughter rippled through the audience.
“Nevertheless, even as a professor of such an unpopular subject, I will never neglect… cough… my classes. My apologies.”
A coughing fit at the worst possible moment. I cleared my throat and continued.
“Should you ever find yourselves with nowhere left to retreat, driven to the edge of a cliff… cough! At those moments, Basic Defense will serve as the final… cough!”
After several more coughs, I pressed on.
“The final… bastion. I will devote my utmost passion and sincerity… cough, cough!”
The violent coughing brought on dizziness. I staggered and gripped the podium. The audience began to murmur; the broadcast cameras clicked their shutters frantically.
I tried to straighten up again, but—
“Cough, cough!”
It was hopeless. I covered my mouth and shook my head at the emcee.
Flustered by the sudden disruption, the emcee hurriedly grabbed the microphone.
“N-next is Professor Jin Se-yeong of Flight and Guidance…!”
Professor Jin Se-yeong quickly stood and walked past me to the podium.
“Hello, everyone! I’m Jin Se-yeong, here to help you fly like bees and sting like butterflies!”
It’s fly like butterflies and sting like bees, Professor Jin… But I had no energy left to correct her.
Passing the worried professors, I staggered down from the podium. A rear door beside the stage led directly to the research building. I needed to get back to my lab and lie down on the sofa immediately.
Yet the moment I stepped out behind the auditorium, I collapsed against the wall and began coughing violently again.
Strange… It had never been this severe before… What was happening? After going through the trouble of possessing me, were they trying to kill me off already?
After another brutal coughing fit, I finally caught my breath. Then a hesitant voice spoke.
“Um… Are you okay…?”
When I laboriously lifted my head, a black-haired girl wearing glasses stood there, looking thoroughly intimidated. It was the same girl I had bumped into at the main gate earlier. She was a new student—why was she out here instead of inside the auditorium?
“You… dropped this…”
The girl hesitantly offered a handkerchief patterned with teddy bears.
“Thank you… cough…!”
The instant our fingertips brushed while I accepted the handkerchief, the tearing pain in my chest began to ease at an astonishing speed.
What…?
Frozen by the unbelievable phenomenon, I watched as the girl jerked back as though burned.
“W-well then, goodbye…!”
She hurried away, leaving me standing there dumbly with the handkerchief still in my outstretched hand.
At that moment, letters began to explode into existence in the air before me.
Make Han Min-ha S-class.
What… is this…?
I stood there in a daze, staring at the words that filled my vision.
Han Min-ha…? S-class…? Who was Han Min-ha? Could it be…?
“Wait, student!”
But the girl had already moved far enough that my voice didn’t reach her. As she vanished from sight, the floating letters slowly faded as well.
Regaining my composure, I quickly analyzed the situation. The brief physical contact when I received the handkerchief from that new student. Immediately afterward, the chest pain and coughing had drastically subsided, and at the same time the text had appeared.
The first order of business was to confirm exactly who “Han Min-ha” was. It was highly likely the girl was her, but I needed certainty. This was the first quest to appear since my possession several months ago. I couldn’t afford to act on vague assumptions.
I stuffed the handkerchief into my coat pocket and hurried toward the research building.