Academy’S Gumiho Is A Magical Genius [EN]: Chapter 85

Academy Gumiho is a Magic Genius – Episode 85

Academy Gumiho is a Magic Genius Episode 85

The Progenitor’s Sorcery (5)

I left the faculty office and headed straight for the dormitory.

It was 5 a.m., just as dawn was about to break.

I had no intention of doing early morning duty or overtime, so I slipped out before Nam Hwa-yeon could hand me any work.

That person is strict about such things, even with her own students.

On the way to the dormitory.

I wondered aloud why there were more students than I expected, and Tamamo responded.

For reference, I had forgiven Tamamo’s sins in exchange for teaching her a total of 30 types of sorcery, one per day for a month, free of charge.

In fact, at this point, she’s not a Gumiho [a nine-tailed fox spirit from Korean folklore], but an angel who just keeps giving. Is this what a giving tree is like?

“There are more students than I thought.”

─Perhaps it’s because this school is full of naive children. They’re all so diligent.

“It’s only a few hundred students at most. There are 6,000 students in the entire school.”

Ah, right.

Nine people died a month ago, so it was 5,991, right.

─S, six thousand…? No wonder the grounds seem unbelievably large. Is this country planning to educate children and form an army?

“An army. You’re not wrong.”

The founding ideology of Chilseong [Seven Stars, likely referring to a governing body or organization] is to protect civilians and rescue citizens from disasters. The most important thing for that is individual strength and the power of the group.

Graduated students each possess power no different from weapons, and the guilds and associations that embrace them form a structure like an army.

For this reason, the students of Chilseong are also called cadets.

─An army, I see. Now I understand the significance of this vast educational facility. The academy is a military academy. By the way, why are all the students passing by staring at you?

“People seem to be very interested in me.”

Come to think of it, I feel like I’ve been getting a lot more attention since yesterday.

Why is that?

‘Is it because of what happened on Saturday night being on the news?’

The first news that praises me since the academy attack.

People may have had unnecessary resentment towards the article, which didn’t match Baek Seung-woo, who is usually stained with scandals and a bad reputation.

‘That guy is a bad guy, so why is he pretending to be nice?’

‘Did he finally buy out the broadcasting station with the immense wealth of the Cheonho Baekga [likely a powerful family or clan]?’

That must be why they’re glaring at me with such thoughts.

“Oh, there’s Seung-woo.”

“Hey, why are you calling the assistant ‘Seung-woo’ to the teaching assistant? Call him Assistant Professor Baek Seung-woo if you don’t want to get in trouble.”

“Oh, but why does the teaching assistant’s face seem to be glowing today?”

“Wasn’t he always like that?”

“No, really, look.”

But what is it?

It’s not so much a friendly gaze.

I felt a slightly sticky gaze.

“He was handsome to begin with…”

“Somehow, he’s become more beautiful.”

“Did he eat something good over the weekend? He’s getting even more handsome. This world is so unfair.”

“Wow, I must have really been a face fanatic. Well, with that face, there has to be some bad charm to get the taste right.”

“What taste are you talking about?”

The sticky gazes I’ve received in my life have mostly been filled with insane homicidal intent.

But today, for the first time, I realized that homicidal intent isn’t the only thing that can be sticky. The gazes of the passing students were sticky, but they felt somehow refreshing.

“…Let’s go to the infirmary quickly.”

─Huh? Not going to your usual residence?

“I’m going to stay there until the students disappear a bit. The infirmary is close by, and I was planning to go there today anyway because of the pain all over my body.”

I desperately avoided their gazes.

After running so hard that I was panting even with my body covered in all sorts of equipment, I was finally able to get away from the students’ gazes.

Ignoring Tamamo, who was giving me a thumbs up, saying my breathing was sexy, I entered the infirmary.

I don’t know foreign languages, but she knows these kinds of words like a ghost.

“Oh, an injured person at this early hour? The teacher isn’t quite ready yet.”

“Teacher Chae-hwa, hello. You are as beautiful as ever today. Ah, and.”

“Haa…Baek Seung-woo, it’s you again. No wonder it was so noisy outside this early in the morning. And I’m not happy with any of your compliments, so stop with the sweet talk.”

“…”

When she told me to stop with the sweet talk, I naturally closed my mouth.

At the same time, the eyes of the school nurse, Yoo Chae-hwa, narrowed. Her expression also became subtly scary.

‘This bastard really stopped when I told him to.’

That’s the feeling I got from her expression.

‘I don’t think it’s just a feeling.’

Did she learn [Telepathy] or something?

It’s not easy to convey thoughts with just facial expressions, she’s truly amazing.

I somehow soothed the unknown trembling and anxiety I felt in my arm. Ugh, scary.

It’s nothing compared to when I faced the Maine.

“Why is your body like this again? You were always a mess, but why did you come back even more of a mess?”

“Haha, I used a little strength on Saturday.”

“You mean that thing that was on the news and in the articles. Ah, you should really treat your body more gently. You have a low natural healing ability, so why do you keep rolling around so roughly?”

Yoo Chae-hwa touched my body over my clothes and roughly assessed my condition.

First, she used [Advanced Healing] to reattach and fix the broken or collapsed bones. However, my bones are inherently weak, so I don’t know when they’ll break again.

In her 17 years of medical practice. She had never seen a body so weak and easily broken.

Still, after taking some measures, she took off my gloves.

The palms and backs of my hands, where the leather was tattered from the flames, were revealed to the world. My hands stung terribly when exposed to the air.

“The burns on your hands, well, they’ve been exposed to magic and curses for too long, so there’s nothing I can do. And these rings, you’re wearing too many of them.”

“…Are you talking about the rings?”

“Yes, throw these away. Or give them to someone else.”

At Yoo Chae-hwa’s sudden words, my face hardened.

She is never a woman who makes frivolous remarks. A person with a sense of responsibility that seems to personify the title of school nurse who treats students.

In addition, if it were a simple treatment, she would be able to compete with the many prominent healing professors of Chilseong.

Because it was Yoo Chae-hwa’s words, I asked with a serious attitude.

“If I throw them away… how many should I throw away?”

When I spoke with a nuance that I didn’t want to throw them away if possible, she held out one hand.

“Five.”

“…Really?”

“Oh my, that’s the minimum. I’d like to tell you to throw away seven if I could, but I’m telling you the minimum because you seem to cherish the rings.”

You didn’t think your weak body would be able to fully receive the stat-boosting effects given to the artifacts, did you?

She was asking me that.

…I have nothing to say.

‘I thought I had somehow found a breakthrough.’

Even borrowing the power of external objects was too much for me.

How could there be such an incompetent body?

I sincerely lamented my body and at the same time, greeted her and left the infirmary.

The treatment and prescription were over, and now the number of students visible outside the window had decreased.

I trudged weakly towards the dormitory.

My whole body was tired, but faint stamina and vitality were moving my body.

‘Even this faint stamina and vitality are not entirely mine.’

The stats that were forcibly raised by borrowing the power of rings, necklaces, earrings, etc., responded to me. But this was poison.

A dimension different from a double-edged sword.

A deadly poison that will definitely worsen my body even more.

It’s different from the poisonous herbs I chew and smoke on a regular basis.

“…Haaa.”

Let’s not think about it right now.

Before the rings that increase my stats become shackles that bind me one day, I just need to end everything. Yes, that’s all I need to do.

I consoled myself in my heart and asked Tamamo behind me, maintaining as much composure and smile as possible.

“Is there anything you want to eat for breakfast?”

─Well, I’m not familiar with the food of this era yet, so I don’t even know what’s available.

She said as if she really didn’t know.

“Really? Then how about Yubu Chobap (Fried Tofu Sushi)?”

─Yubu… Chobap? I don’t know what it is, but since it has Yubu in it, it must be delicious. Then I’ll take that.

“Okay. Then I’ll order it.”

I ordered Yubu Chobap while getting my leg treated.

I ordered very expensive sushi.

For a moment, I thought it was a waste of money to spend money on Tamamo, who had done something bad, but when I thought about how delicious she had eaten Yubu Udon the night before, there was nothing better than food to coax Tamamo.

Yes, I should buy her food with the feeling that I’m investing in her.

With that in mind, as I made the payment, Tamamo, who was staring intently at the phone screen, said.

─Come to think of it, I haven’t seen you eat anything since Saturday evening. You only ordered enough Yubu Chobap for me to eat. Unlike me, who doesn’t need to eat, shouldn’t the contractor need to eat to live?

“Why bother? It’s not like I’ll die if I don’t eat for a day or two.”

─If you’re as skinny as you are, you’ll die if you starve for a day or two?

I was far from the type of person who would die if I starved for a day or two.

In the first place, I didn’t really like eating, and if I saved that time and did research or studied, I could see a big gain in time.

That’s why I often replaced meals with pills that contained all the recommended daily nutrients. On days when I didn’t even have the mind to take pills, there were many cases where I couldn’t even eat that.

“Eh, it’s okay. People don’t die that easily.”

─I’ve seen many people starve to death. The guys who say things like you always die and are scattered on the streets.

“I’ve seen people starve to death often too.”

Of course, there were people who ate monsters because supplies didn’t come, or ate mushrooms that bloomed in old barracks.

There was even someone who tried to eat the body of a dead comrade.

Even if there was such a shortage of food, there were many who chose to starve themselves, saying that they were maintaining human dignity.

‘Is it because I spent my adolescence in such an environment? I feel more comfortable starving than eating.’

Thanks to that, the act of eating itself was awkward.

Moreover, if I took medicine, I wouldn’t starve to death due to lack of nutrition.

Isn’t that enough?

I sincerely thought so.

─This is an era where there are so many different kinds of food. But you don’t know how to enjoy gourmet food.

“I’m not particularly obsessed with food, clothing, and shelter. Anything is fine as long as I can eat it, anything is fine as long as I can wear it, and anywhere is fine as long as I can sleep.”

─That’s quite extreme. At the same time, it’s frugal and pessimistic. Life is only fleeting, shouldn’t a man dream of luxury?

“Don’t talk as if all men should aim for luxury.”

I don’t think I’m normal either.

You’re no match for me.

* * *

─The room is very small… Compared to the room you were in before, it’s at least ten times smaller, isn’t it?

“I know. It’s a dormitory, so just think of it that way.”

Assistant’s dormitory, returning almost two days later.

Somehow, I felt new, like a student who had returned home after a year abroad. It seems that the cause is that the perceived time and the actual time were twisted because I had been in the inner depths for quite a long time.

This is all because of Tamamo.

I’ll have to ask her persistently later and get it all back.

─A dormitory, I know what that means, but is it possible for a house to have only one room?

“Why one? There’s a bathroom.”

─Oh my, since when have we measured bathrooms as rooms? A bathroom is a bathroom, not a room.

Tamamo’s eyes, scanning the dormitory room carefully, did not seem pleased.

It seems that the room I was in before going to work in the early morning was the head of the mansion’s room, so it’s even more comparable.

Still, this dormitory isn’t bad.

A room with [Air Purification] and [Automatic Cleaning] magic.

The bed and chairs were permanently enchanted with [Beginner Healing] magic to ensure comfortable sleep and rest. In addition, many of the other furniture were top-of-the-line brands or items imbued with magic.

Of course, it’s a lower level compared to the Cheonho Baekga’s mansion.

But in terms of convenience, it should be better than the era she lived in.

“Still, it’s livable. In the first place, my goal here is not to live comfortably, but to study all night and get the minimum amount of sleep.”

A one-room apartment full of books is desolate, but there is no better space to explore magic books all night and combine study and research.

Even if there was a bigger house than this, it would be of no use, so I tried to emphasize the advantages of the one-room dormitory.

Somehow, Tamamo didn’t seem to be listening carefully.

Before I knew it, her hand had materialized and was grabbing an envelope buried in the documents and magic books.

An envelope full of pink backgrounds and red heart patterns.

It was like an envelope containing a love letter.

‘Huh?’

A love letter?

Something came to mind.

“…Ah.”

That’s right, I received something like that.

I had forgotten about it until now.

‘I’m screwed.’

At this moment.

I broke the heart of someone, whoever it was.

What a piece of trash.