Academy’S Gumiho Is A Magical Genius [EN]: Chapter 268

Academy Gumiho is a Magic Genius – Episode 268

Academy Gumiho is a Magic Genius Episode 268

Beginning of the Semester and the Overture (3)

The chairman’s speech wasn’t particularly long for a commencement address.

After the short and impactful speech, the students all returned to their places.

The academy, once filled with silence, began to fill with the voices and vitality of the students. Seungwoo walked towards his workplace, passing students dating in the park.

Nam Hwayeon’s laboratory.

‘My workplace that gives a pittance for a salary.’

Although the benefits were considerable in lieu of a high salary, it was undoubtedly a workplace that didn’t pay well. Well, they provide support for research activities as a benefit, but the problem was the lack of time to utilize it.

And then.

As he sat down at his designated spot in the lab, the head teaching assistant approached Seungwoo.

“Oh, it’s been a while, Teaching Assistant Baek Seungwoo. But why are you here?”

“…Is this some kind of hazing?”

“Huh? Haha, you haven’t heard the news yet? You’ve been transferred!”

“Transferred…?”

A transfer, huh.

Seungwoo looked at the head teaching assistant with eyes that said he was hearing this for the first time.

“It doesn’t sound like good news, though.”

“…You seem to be misunderstanding; it’s not a demotion, but a promotion.”

“Promotion…?”

He expressed his confusion, wondering what that meant.

The head teaching assistant scratched his head.

‘Where do I even begin to explain this?’

“Didn’t you receive a personal email?”

“No, I didn’t.”

“Any texts or calls?”

“Not a single one.”

“Damn it, how are these guys handling things that the news of a promotion doesn’t reach the person involved until the very day of?”

Seungwoo, who hadn’t heard any news, shook his head repeatedly.

Email, text, phone call.

He hadn’t heard anything about a promotion through any means.

No, even before the promotion, he hadn’t received any contact regarding the academy during the vacation itself. When he mentioned that fact simply, the eyes of the head teaching assistant, usually known for his gentle demeanor, curved like a crescent moon.

Clearly, crescent moon-shaped eyes are supposed to appear when smiling.

But the head teaching assistant’s eyes looked somewhat scary.

“Anyway, you’re promoted as of today, so pack up all your belongings from this spot and go to the basement. You know Basement Floor 3, right? The 7th Research Lab, I mean.”

“Isn’t that just an empty workshop?”

“Yeah, that’s right. An empty workshop.”

‘What is this? Is this person subtly hazing me?’

“You’re not really hazing me or giving me a fake transfer to keep me in check, are you? I’ll ask Professor about it later?”

“I’m telling you, it’s not! The professor gave the order herself.”

“Professor ordered the transfer?”

“Yeah, she said a person needs a space that suits their level and told me to hand over the entire 7th Research Lab to you.”

Looking at the head teaching assistant with suspicious eyes, he seemed genuinely wronged. But that 7th Research Lab.

‘Doesn’t that mean I’m using the entire Basement Floor 3?’

This building, referred to as Nam Hwayeon’s lab or the faculty office, is large and spacious.

Though it’s called a single research lab, the interior is divided into multiple research areas, making it a large-scale research complex.

‘But not everyone can do research.’

It’s not specifically stipulated in the school rules, but the teaching assistants who work in the lab don’t even have an hour a day to dedicate to research.

They’re too busy with work.

That’s why, despite having a large lab, they mostly end up doing academy paperwork instead of research.

The only people who can put aside those documents and focus solely on research are Professor Nam Hwayeon and five others.

It’s a system where one person monopolizes one lab.

‘But they’re going to allocate such a lab to me?’

A sweeping promotion. No, a personnel change.

Considering that it hasn’t even been a year since he came here, it was truly an absurd transfer.

There would definitely be quite a few people who would object to this fact.

“Is this really okay?”

“Of course. It’s something the professor said and even stamped her seal on.”

“The other teaching assistants will strongly object.”

“What are they going to object to? If they’re unhappy, just tell them to reach the level of a Grand Magician.”

“…Excuse me?”

He had never verbally stated that he had reached the realm of a Grand Magician, so how did the head teaching assistant know?

Where did the information leak from?

Ah, could it be.

“Professor Nam Hwayeon told you. That I reached the realm of a Grand Magician.”

“Th-that’s something I said today…”

“Oh, really? She brought it up just now while handing over the documents.”

Then, could it be that.

“The promotion also came up today, along with the Grand Magician thing?”

“No, that’s not it. It was decided during the vacation. She seemed to think that after seeing the spells you use, she had to give you a lab.”

As if he had said everything he needed to say.

The head teaching assistant turned to leave.

He waved his hand at Seungwoo and said.

“Then, from now on, let’s greet each other as fellow lab slaves. If you want to ask me anything, come to the 6th Research Lab.”

Watching him leave, Seungwoo neatly stacked his belongings into an empty box.

He stacked miscellaneous documents and books at the bottom, and on top of them, he placed the dozens of types of medicine he used to take in the early days because of 「Solar Plexus Severance」 [a condition where the solar plexus, a network of nerves in the abdomen, is damaged].

Seeing the medicine again, it reminds me.

‘I used to take dozens of painkillers every day.’

Back then, Seungwoo wasn’t afraid of side effects.

He was already living on borrowed time anyway. Even if side effects came, it would only mean dying sooner.

In that case, it was more beneficial to take painkillers and spend more efficient time with a relatively clear head.

It was a time when he was truly living recklessly.

Of course, he’s still living recklessly now.

‘Now, there are too many things I need to achieve before I die.’

There’s no change in the goal.

However, it was necessary to modify the process.

After staring at the medicine for a moment, Seungwoo floated the box in the air and went down the stairs.

The basement where sunlight doesn’t enter.

Up to the first basement floor, he could feel the presence of people, but from below that, he couldn’t even feel traces of people.

Usually, in such cases, a gloomy atmosphere, cobwebs piled up in the corners, and musty dust would greet you.

But this place is a bit different.

“Thanks to the magic placed on the building, it seems hygiene can be maintained without people managing it separately. I don’t even want to imagine how much they poured into imbuing this magic into the building.”

As he went down the stairs, he ran his hand along the basement wall.

Judging from the material of the building, it wasn’t a material that was good for imbuing magic.

In order to imbue magic of this scale into this kind of material, a considerable amount of effort is required. For example, when building a brick house, it requires as much labor as engraving magic on every brick.

If you entrust it to a company, it would easily cost over 10 billion won [approximately $7.5 million USD].

It’s one thing to simply remove dust.

Maintaining a certain level of hygiene is quite complicated.

But when I think about it carefully, it seems like it wouldn’t have cost a penny.

“Because it’s magic that Professor can imbue with a flick of her finger.”

There was no reason to spend money on magical equipment.

Knowing Nam Hwayeon’s personality, she would buy more research equipment with that money.

It’s a matter of course.

Not all magicians can act like her.

Even Seungwoo, who has stepped into the realm of a Grand Magician, can’t imbue just any magic like her.

Each magician has their own specialty.

A Grand Magician is someone who has reached the extreme in that field.

Not a monster who has mastered all magic.

However, Nam Hwayeon has mastered almost all magic, and not only that, but she has even created new disciplines and schools of thought.

‘That’s why she’s called the Demon King.’

Her talent is on a different level from others.

‘It may be self-praise, but it’s probably a level of talent equal to mine.’

Trait, 「Magical Constitution」.

Seungwoo, who has greatly benefited from that ability, became a Grand Magician in just half a year.

Frankly speaking, it’s an absurd talent.

There are fewer than 10 Grand Magicians in the entire world, but in just 6 months, he became someone who stands shoulder to shoulder with legendary magicians.

Nam Hwayeon, who has lived for 30 years with talent equal to Seungwoo.

Her knowledge can be estimated through her major.

─Do Grand Magicians have their own majors?

‘It’s not exactly defined, but you can tell what kind of magic a person has devoted themselves to.’

For example, Valkyrie, whom I saw recently.

She is a spear wielder who wields a giant spear and a Grand Magician who utilizes runes to the extreme. The world praises her as the master of rune magic.

Unlike her, Seungwoo’s specialties are fire and language.

Other learned disciplines include sorcery, telekinesis, etc.

To others, I’m just a pyrokinesis [the ability to create and control fire with the mind] with considerable skill.

That wasn’t wrong. Among the various magics Seungwoo had learned, the most proficient discipline was 「Fire Magic」.

For someone who is a Grand Magician, their major is openly revealed without having to explicitly state it.

─Then what is your teacher’s major?

‘You’ve seen it before. What I’m learning.’

─What did I see? When have you ever done anything in front of me?

‘I had a discussion and received teachings about short-range space magic, 「Blink」. Were you asleep then?’

Before the summer vacation, he had brought various books to Nam Hwayeon’s dormitory. At that time, she gave Seungwoo teachings along with the words to become her disciple.

「Blink」 was one of the teachings he received then.

After that, she gave teachings related to space.

Methods of folding space, methods of crossing space, etc.

She shared various knowledge with Seungwoo.

─So, she was a space-type expert?

‘That’s half right and half wrong.’

─It sounds like she has another major.

You guessed correctly.

‘That’s right. Nam Hwayeon’s specialty is spacetime. Her forte is encompassing time and space and placing them under her feet.’

─Isn’t that cheating?

‘It’s a cheating ability. The cheating aspect hasn’t been revealed because she’s only focused on research and knowledge exploration with that cheating ability.’

The history of magic related to time and space is really long.

The two concepts have been established as absolute existences since ancient times. And magicians are a race that hates sounds like perfection and absoluteness.

Magicians have studied for a long time to express time and space with magic, and after more than thousands of years, they have created magics like 「Blink」.

However, she developed magics that were far more advanced than 「Blink」, which was created over thousands of years, within just 30 years.

No one knows what kind of magic she created.

I didn’t know either.

However, the novel content that Baek Eunho subtly provided to Seungwoo contained information about Nam Hwayeon’s magic.

At first, he suspected that it was somewhat exaggerated, but now that he has become a Grand Magician, he has realized it earnestly.

‘I can be stronger than Nam Hwayeon, but I sensed that I can’t become a person who is wiser and more knowledgeable than her.’

Nam Hwayeon was an insurmountable wall.

Enough to know why she is called the Demon King.

She was an irrational person.

And Seungwoo was feeling an unknown sense of anticipation and excitement at the fact that such a person had issued his transfer.

What meaning could be hidden in this transfer?

As he tried to explore that fact, Seungwoo unconsciously thought.