Something's Wrong with the Plot (3)
I stopped by the lab and grabbed a handful of pills, swallowing them dry. My head had been spinning like a top until just moments ago, but the dizziness had almost completely subsided. I'd been half-convinced I might actually drop dead. After taking a moment to steady my breathing, I headed for the administrative office. I needed to check the new student roster. If things had come to this, it would be better if that girl turned out to be Han Min-ha. If her name wasn't on the list, the situation would become considerably more troublesome from that point on.
Through the hallway windows came the noisy chatter of freshmen pouring out of the auditorium. The new students would spend the morning getting their dorm assignments and unpacking, then attend orientation in the afternoon. There they'd learn the academy's rules, familiarize themselves with the facilities, and absorb the basic knowledge needed to live here. Tomorrow would bring the immediate basic evaluation—an extremely important assessment that would shape the entire course of their academy lives.
In the original story, Yoo Hee-won was supposed to take first place in that evaluation. She'd received every kind of private tutoring before even entering the academy, putting her at a level where she could debut as a hero and receive at least a D-rank right away. She'd then openly choose me as her advisor during the guidance professor selection period. But now, no one could say how things would unfold. Not with this new variable called Han Min-ha suddenly inserted into the middle of everything.
Let me organize the situation once more. First, the alleviation of my lung disease. The illness I suffered from didn't make me cough up blood all day. Usually it was just a mild cough, but at times it would grow more severe before subsiding again in irregular cycles. So I couldn't necessarily conclude that touching that girl's finger was the main reason my symptoms had eased. It might simply have coincided with one of those temporary periods of improvement.
Second, those words floating in the air. I'd never heard the name "Han Min-ha" before—not in reality, and not in this world either. No matter how much I searched my memories, there had been no character by that name even up to the final chapter. Yet those letters had clearly given me a directive to make that "Han Min-ha" into an S-class hero.
Why had it appeared now, after months of silence? Because I'd come into contact with the girl presumed to be Han Min-ha? No... I'd bumped into that same girl at the main gate earlier. Why hadn't it appeared then? Perhaps she wasn't Han Min-ha at all. Maybe the quest had simply triggered at the moment she happened to cross paths with me.
But no matter how I thought about it, I couldn't make sense of any of this. Not Yoo Hee-won, but Han Min-ha... The possessor was supposed to raise some completely unknown character to S-class instead of the original heroine? What a deranged plot development. No matter how much one might insist on writing with conviction, shouldn't a story still meet readers' expectations to some degree? With half-baked writing skills, you don't get praised for clever twists and subverted clichés—you just get called out for completely shitting the bed on the plot.
After turning these thoughts over in my mind, I arrived in front of the administrative office. When I opened the door, the musty smell of old paper greeted me. Half-open cabinets lined the walls, overflowing with bundles of documents. There were official seal storage boxes and files organized by color. On another wall, a large multifunction printer and paper shredder stood beside dangerously tall stacks of unshredded documents. Several staff members were inside, but not a single voice could be heard. They simply stared at their monitors with exhausted, hollow eyes, scrolling with their mice or sighing deeply as they typed.
As I stepped further inside, the low-ranking female employee nearest the entrance lifted her head with a bored expression at the sound of footsteps. The woman, whose eyes suggested she'd already lived a full lifetime of weariness, spotted me and widened her eyes like a startled rabbit before hurriedly bowing her head.
"Professor... Professor Kyo has arrived..." she whispered to the employee beside her. The other staff member quickly fixed her bangs and stole a glance at me over the partition.
"Why is he here...? I heard he nearly collapsed in the auditorium earlier..."
"I don't know... Wow... He's so handsome it hurts to look at him..."
I pretended not to hear their whispers and continued deeper into the office.
"I mean, seriously... If you're going to feed someone bullshit, at least do it early. The entrance ceremony's already over, and now you're dumping all this rejected paperwork on us? What exactly do you expect us to do?"
From the inner room came the voice of Administrative Manager Chae Ga-yun, rubbing her temples as she spoke on the phone. Dark circles hung heavily beneath her eyes, and her hastily pinned-up hair looked dry and brittle. If she dressed properly and took care of herself, she'd be quite beautiful—but right now she was simply an overworked middle manager in the administrative department. As the second-in-command after the director, she bore the heavy responsibility of overseeing all administrative affairs. It couldn't be helped.
"Ugh, fuck... This is such bullshit... I should just quit..." The administrative manager slammed the phone down and muttered curses to herself.
"Manager. It seems the situation isn't quite appropriate for a proper greeting of 'How have you been?'"
At my words, Chae Ga-yun looked up.
"Professor Kyo Suhyeon...? What brings you here?"
Meeting my eyes, she asked with clear concern, "I heard you weren't feeling well during the entrance ceremony. Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. It was just a bit of coughing. I actually have a favor to ask."
At the word "favor," color returned to her ashen face.
"For me? What kind of favor?"
"I'd like to see this year's freshman roster. Would that be possible?"
"Of course it's possible. Even if it weren't, I'd have to make it possible for you, Professor. Just a moment."
Chae Ga-yun clicked her mouse and turned the monitor slightly toward me.
"Here it is."
It was the school homepage logged in under the administrative account, with the new students' names listed in alphabetical order.
"Are you looking for a particular student?"
"Yes. May I take a look?"
Without hesitation, she stood up from her chair and offered me the seat. I took the mouse and scrolled all the way to the bottom before working my way back up.
Han Min-ha... Han Min-ha...
"Is it the child of someone you know?"
"Well, not exactly."
Han Min-ha... Let's see here...
"Or perhaps you're trying to scout the promising ones early for the upcoming advisor selection?"
"Haha."
She kept talking. How annoying. Where had I gotten up to?
"Since you've come all this way, shall I get you some warm coffee?"
"No, that's alright. I had some this morning."
Ah, there she was. Han Min-ha. Fortunately, she was among the freshmen. I'd been about to click into her personal information when I stopped my finger mid-motion. With the manager standing right behind me watching the screen, looking at Han Min-ha's detailed profile would be risky. It could lead to unnecessary rumors.
"Manager. On second thought, that coffee sounds good. Since I rarely visit, it would be a shame to leave without at least that."
"Would you like some?"
Her face brightened as she left the room to prepare the coffee. The moment she was gone, I pulled out my phone with one hand while clicking into Han Min-ha's profile with the other. After a brief loading screen, I could see the ID photo in the upper right corner.
Black hair, gloomy expression, wearing glasses. So that girl from earlier really was Han Min-ha. After confirming her face, I quickly photographed the entire screen with my phone. I'd examine the rest in detail later.
I'd just closed the window and stood up when Chae Ga-yun returned with two paper cups of instant coffee.
"Did you find the student you were looking for?"
"No. I thought I saw a familiar face in the auditorium earlier, so I came to check. It seems I was mistaken."
"I see. Please, come sit over here."
She gestured toward the round table used for receiving guests or conducting interviews. Well, thanks to her I'd confirmed Han Min-ha's existence with certainty. The least I could do was offer this much in return. Though I didn't exactly have the mental bandwidth to leisurely sip coffee and chat.
Chae Ga-yun asked about my health again, then began complaining about her recent workload. What started as simple grumbling soon escalated as her emotions overflowed, unleashing harsh expressions like "those Management Bureau bastards whose only job is to send down official documents." I laughed politely and offered appropriate responses to her tirade.
"I'm sorry, Professor. I seem to have done nothing but talk about myself."
"It's fine. When one visits the administrative office, one should expect to hear about administrative matters."
"Oh? Then if I visit your lab, will I get to hear your stories, Professor?"
"Well... Haha."
I dodged the question with an ambiguous smile.
"By the way, after the basic evaluation, we'll be moving into advisor assignments. Are you thinking of taking Yoo Hee-won, Professor?"
"Yoo Hee-won? I'm not sure."
"You've never taken on any guidance students before, but with Yoo Hee-won, even you might be quite tempted."
"I still don't know. In any case..."
I rose from my seat.
"Thank you for the coffee, Manager. I'll stop by again sometime."
Chae Ga-yun saw me all the way out of the administrative office.
"Take care of yourself, Professor!"
"Thank you."
Once I'd put some distance between myself and the office, I took out my phone. That girl named Han Min-ha. Shall we see what kind of person she is?