Chapter 197
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 197
Chapter Title: I Shouldn't Have Enrolled (197) Lesson 39. I Must Have Him - 2
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The heir to the Prominence family among the Ten Great Families—Team Phoenix, led by Ulrike Prominence, successfully completed their two-week special activity.
They had filled nearly the entire period, perfecting perfection, but without wasting a single moment, they had solidly reinforced the dimension's foundation, reaching a level where the highest evaluation was beyond doubt.
"Ms. Prominence, are you really all right?"
"Yes, of course."
However, the members of Team Phoenix kept casting worried glances at their leader. About a week ago, her condition had started to seem a bit off.
Even when they were together, she often seemed spaced out somewhere, and whenever she got a chance, she would shut herself away in her own space, doing something.
Some team members wondered if she had discovered something in this dimension, but none dared ask her directly.
In the end, a week passed in this awkward atmosphere, and they wrapped up the special activity before returning to Union.
After submitting their special activity report, the now-free group gathered in front of the warp gate that Union Academy prided itself on—one that used Babel Tower's authority, not dimension lines, to transport each student back to their homeworld.
Unless accompanied by a full professor delegated full authority from the chancellor, all students finishing special activities were required to use this gate to return.
"Well then, everyone, you all worked hard. Have a great vacation."
"You too, Ms. Prominence! Enjoy your break!"
"It was an honor to work with you this semester, Ms. Prominence!"
The team members, excessively polite for same-grade classmates, offered their greetings and vanished one by one.
Ulrike Prominence saw them off with a gentle smile but... the instant they were all gone, her expression turned icy cold, as if she had flung away the mask she wore.
"Pathetic... How can they all be so utterly worthless."
They had been precious talents in her eyes even during this special activity, but now they struck her as incompetent as scarecrows standing blankly in autumn fields.
It wasn't that the capable ones had suddenly changed.
Her standards had changed, that's all.
Yes, ever since she started watching the Rebellion channel.
'Ban Yu-won, who was nothing more than a powerless commoner, gained graduate-level specs in just one semester. And every time he climbs the tower, special phenomena occur—not to mention he was scouted by Union from a dimension with nothing... He has to be deeply tied to Union!'
Though it irked her, the abilities of those lowly pests around him weren't bad at all.
She couldn't deny that every one of them outshone her own team members.
Of course, the most exceptional was Ban Yu-won.
His ability, intellect, striking looks—nothing lacked to place him by her side.
That arrogant fairy tribe wench was utterly smitten with him, so it wasn't mere delusion on her part.
'He's too good for that wench... I must have him.'
She had first checked the channel to monitor him and prepare contingencies—but midway through the videos, Ulrike's mindset shifted.
Sure, he possessed dangerous talent and insight too risky to ignore, but that didn't mean she had to eliminate him outright.
He was, after all, a capable sort from a backwater dimension without traditions or customs.
With nothing to cling to or bind him, if she just removed the influences planting wrong ideas and prompting bad actions, wouldn't he naturally find the right path?
Dump one of the incompetents on her team and slot him in the vacancy.
The force now driving Ulrike was wholly supplanted by her desire for Ban Yu-won.
'I planned to nurture them gradually even if they don't measure up now, but after finding a polished gem, I just can't see a future for these lot.'
Tsk. Clicking her tongue, she headed not for the gate ahead but the academy's main building.
The main building, alive with lectures during term time, lay quietly dormant for vacation.
Stepping cautiously as if fearful of rousing a sleeping beast, she soon reached the spiral staircase ascending from the sixth floor upward.
Above lay the offices of the full professors, and this staircase was enchanted with magic that repelled the purposeless while guiding the purposeful straight to their goal.
Ulrike's destination was, naturally, her advisor professor Cleo Hecate's room.
'Even Prominence's authority can't overcome this magic... How distasteful.'
Muttering curses under her breath, she climbed the ever-turning spiral stairs with brisk steps.
How long had she ascended? Lifting her head, Ulrike spotted her goal.
Pausing before the door to catch her breath, just as she raised her hand to knock—creak—the door swung open on its own, and a welcoming voice drifted from within.
"Come in, my dear disciple."
"Ah."
She thought she had masked her presence well enough, but with a wry smile, Ulrike stepped inside and bowed deeply at once.
"I've returned after completing the special activity, Master."
"You didn't come just for greetings. Here, sit."
A figure wrapped head to toe in faintly glowing bandages, draped in a robe atop them.
Even that wasn't enough—the purple eyes peering from the face-binding wrappings exuded an unearthly aura that made even Ulrike, heir to a Ten Great Family, shrink back.
Cleo Hecate: the academy's most enigmatic being, after the chancellor and Xenon.
Nothing she spoke failed to come true, nor did any who opposed her meet a good end.
The other professors and students called her "The Prophet Who Decides Fate" with reverence.
"Your footsteps on the stairs were light. Love, perhaps?"
"No!"
Ulrike shook her head in alarm at the sudden strike as she sat, yet she acknowledged her consultation bore resemblance.
"There's a junior whose skills make me want to pull him onto my team, somehow."
"You're a sophomore, so juniors mean freshmen only. You're talking about Ban Yu-won student, aren't you?"
"...Yes, Master."
"Heh, if I named the semester's biggest name now versus the start, it'd be no one else. No prophecy needed."
Hecate unwound a bandage tip from her mummy-wrapped form to float over a teapot and cup.
With deft control, pouring tea solely via bandages without a hand's twitch, she slid the cup before her.
"Then, how did you learn of this junior? Tell me."
"Ahem, truth be told, we're not exactly close..."
No matter the trusted master, she couldn't divulge Prominence's shadows.
Even if the master already knew.
Least of all in this monster-infested academy.
"It started with his UniTube channel. Young, talented, but sadly on the wrong path with bad company—so I felt I had to save him..."
"Aha... You were jealous of that fairy tribe princess, popular for beauty and skill. Rumors say they're deeply involved now."
"—!"
Her breath nearly stopped.
Master pierced her heart's core yet prodded deliberately; Ulrike shot a dissatisfied glare, but Hecate laughed cheerily—"Ahaha"—and sipped her tea.
"What's wrong with that? Love is taking from one another, after all."
"It's not love."
"No lectures on vague feelings from me. But one truth: the desire nearest it is possessiveness. You want him all to yourself?"
"Well... yes."
Hecate smiled at her disciple's frank admission.
"But alas, to cut to the chase: teams across grades are impossible."
Then, smiling, she dashed her hopes.
Ulrike knew this full well yet pleaded gravely.
"Can't your power bend the rules, Master?"
"Think it through, Ulrike. Different grades can't team up for one simple reason: teams stick till the end. Switching means restarting the tower—and more."
"I've only finished sophomore year one; it's not too late. Plenty of juniors and seniors re-climb after retiring..."
"Graduate first, and he's a fifth-year restarting from scratch."
"No concern needed. He'll follow me to my family post-graduation. Or we conquer the tower together first—no more climbing."
Sighing and pinching her brow at her disciple's brazen confidence—despite never meeting Ban Yu-won—Hecate watched on.
Never once failed to claim her desires, so men's hearts seemed equally easy.
No mere princess syndrome—this was far more perilous.
Yet Hecate, foreseeing her dangerous creed and nightmare—
"Exceptions exist. In utterly unavoidable cases, cross-grade teams have precedent."
For her own ends, unavoidably voicing a possibility nightmarish for another.
"Master!"
"But heed this."
Gravely warning as her excited disciple seized her bandage-clad hand—
"No student schemes this. It only works if... the team has no members left."
"No team members...? His all vanish?"
"Not just that. For contingencies, Phoenix's too. No vacancies left, even if others meddle."
"Aha!"
Simple as that!
Ulrike Prominence clapped, rejoicing purely.
"I planned that anyway. No worries for you, Master!"
"Ulrike, my dear disciple."
"Ah! Your disciple was rash before you again."
Startled by the call, slapping her mouth and bowing; Hecate offered a melancholy smile.
"Reflection suffices, but mind your words henceforth. No turning back once spoken."
"Master..."
Hecate's purple eyes gleamed deeply.
From first meeting this false heir Ulrike Prominence, the foreseen future brushed past anew.
Petty greed-sparked deeds awaken long-buried truths and legends.
The true one, ousted by the fake, claims realization and returns.
Chaos spirals uncontrollably, engulfing the universe.
Hell's banquet's end: all revealed, she'll curse Hecate for deceit—but—
'The tower's master shall return.'
'Topple all ancient, forge new order, pacify the cosmos.'
No undoing a spoken prophecy.
To fulfill hers, that day Hecate gladly fired the shot dragging multitudes into living hell.