Academy’S Gumiho Is A Magical Genius [EN]: Chapter 101

Academy Gumiho is a Magic Genius – Episode 101

Academy Gumiho is a Magic Genius 101

The Reverse Side of the World (1)

The Reverse Side of the World.

Its precise name is ‘Unranked Designated Dungeon.’

It is, quite literally, a dungeon that isn’t ranked, existing outside the F to S ranks that the Association and the System typically designate.

“The Reverse Side of the World? What’s that?”

“Hey, haven’t you done any advanced learning?”

“Nope.”

“Wow, what a flex. You know, it’s like those dungeons news outlets often call EX-ranked.”

“Ah, that’s what it was?”

A buzz spreads among the students like a contagious disease.

Some are surprised, others dismiss it as nonsense.

In news reports and casual conversations, the ‘Reverse Side of the World’ was a place with so little information that some suggested classifying it as EX-ranked because it exceeded the S-rank level.

But I know.

Unranked.

Even if it’s outside the existing ranks, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s above S-rank.

Rather, it can be easier than that.

No, I can confidently say it *is* easy.

‘Depending on what kind of world is inside.’

Research and discussion on the Reverse Side of the World are still steadily being brought up in academic circles. Amidst various opinions.

There was one unique common element.

‘The Reverse Side of the World is a fragment of a destroyed world.’

This is a hypothesis that applies not only to the Reverse Side of the World but also to dungeons in general.

Unlike ordinary dungeons filled with monsters, the Reverse Side of the World is not just an empty space. It’s more like the world we live in.

There, people exist who are known as NPCs [Non-Player Characters, or characters controlled by the game/world rather than players].

The rank is divided according to the scale, size, and level of the NPCs’ living base: village-level, city-level, nation-level, world-level.

It is classified into the above four stages.

‘If a dungeon is a world where only monsters live, then entering the Reverse Side of the World is like entering a settlement where people live.’

Most dungeons end when you kill the monsters and destroy the core that makes up the space.

On the other hand, the Reverse Side of the World unfolds in a way that involves interacting with NPCs based on specific occupations and roles, and guiding the scenario in the right direction.

It’s like playing a game, but.

The problem is.

‘Unlike games, the Reverse Side of the World has no clues or guidelines.’

The Reverse Side of the World is not a game.

Therefore, clues don’t exist.

It is not cleared by killing all people or monsters.

It does not end by protecting people from crises or disasters.

Only leading it in the ‘right direction’ is the only way to clear the Reverse Side of the World.

As a result, despite the fact that there are quite a few D to B-level Reverse Sides of the World, there are only a few hundred cleared cases.

‘The biggest problem is that no one knows whether the “right direction” is a happy ending, a bad ending, or an ambiguous ending that is neither.’

But I know.

Not everything, but I know one thing.

And I know all the rewards you get for clearing that world.

‘Actually, it’s not the next scenario, though.’

As I recall, the next scenario was about the protagonist showing off his skills beyond that of a freshman in an A-grade dungeon, becoming the most promising player to look forward to.

An episode that reveals Kyle’s talent and expectations as a promising player.

Originally, I was thinking about joining in, but I gave up.

Even if he showed off his talent and skills in the A-grade dungeon and followed the original scenario, I couldn’t do anything about this.

What I wanted to gain, even giving up on preventing the protagonist’s progress, was the dungeon deeply intertwined with the main story in the mid-to-late part.

The only way to get there was through illegal intrusion unless it was now.

“Crazy, crazy.”

“Team leader! Are you going to let that guy talk such nonsense?”

“Professor Emilia is right. Teaching Assistant Baek Seung-woo is just a rookie who joined this year. His choice is just a young man’s whim.”

“Well… I have a different thought.”

All the professors judged negatively.

The moment D’Artagnan, the head, thought it was reckless and was about to tell him to choose another dungeon.

A captivating voice filled the grand lecture hall.

Then D’Artagnan’s gaze turned to her.

“It’s not a problem in terms of regulations, is it?”

“…Professor Nam Hwa-yeon, can you take responsibility if something happens?”

“Responsibility? Why would I take it? If a problem arises, shouldn’t the academy take responsibility?”

It was Nam Hwa-yeon’s gentle tone, but there was an undeniable force and charisma mixed in it.

She is undoubtedly the most respected professor in Chilseong.

Even if D’Artagnan is the head, there were few ways he could do anything if Nam Hwa-yeon came out like this.

I don’t know why Nam Hwa-yeon is supporting that guy.

“Are you serious?”

“I don’t have any reason to lie or joke.”

Nam Hwa-yeon would know that D’Artagnan wasn’t asking that.

The point he’s making is justification.

What justification does Nam Hwa-yeon have for taking his side?

D’Artagnan was curious about that part.

Her usual behavior was on his mind to assume that she was doing this because he was the youngest teaching assistant under her.

Nam Hwa-yeon basically does not get involved in anything that is not interesting.

That’s why she’s the one who doesn’t even attend the weekly meetings that all professors have to attend because she’s bored.

Such Nam Hwa-yeon is giving strength to a specific person’s remarks.

That fact is never light.

Perhaps D’Artagnan would never know unless he figured out the inside story.

Nam Hwa-yeon and I have a master-disciple relationship, and the three promises she made as a condition for teaching me magic.

The person who knows that the first of them is to support me and be my backing in this place today.

It was me, Nam Hwa-yeon, and Tamamo, who eavesdropped, in the world.

“……”

D’Artagnan’s expression as he contemplates.

His gaze turned to the group I was in charge of.

Among this year’s freshmen, who are called the Golden Generation, there are ten particularly shining promising players. He scanned the faces of the group that included three of them.

A group with five female students and one male student, an odd gender ratio of 5:1, and the male student looked particularly weak.

The faces of all of them looked shocked.

It’s as if they’re hearing it for the first time.

That can’t be.

If so─.

“─Temporary Teacher Baek Seung-woo.”

“Yes, Team Leader.”

“You must come to the main faculty office with an activity plan and student confirmation within two days.”

“!!!”

Allowing a teaching assistant, especially a rookie who just joined this year, to enter the main faculty office.

The ripple effect this has is enormous.

Not in a positive direction, but in a negative direction.

“The main faculty office……”

“Then I don’t have anything to say.”

“Wow, that’s really pathetic. Or is it self-inflicted?”

The main faculty office is where team leader-level professors like D’Artagnan organize materials for lectures or take a break.

Students and teaching assistants are bound to feel great pressure from the gazes of several professors directed at them just by being there.

In fact, one teaching assistant with a weak heart fainted less than 10 minutes after going up to the main faculty office due to the gazes of the professors directed at him and the unique magic power.

And now I’m heading there.

I wasn’t particularly worried.

The fact that D’Artagnan, who has a principle-oriented personality, said that is synonymous with the fact that he will accept my words. There will be no noise from above regarding this matter.

Hoo, I let out a sigh of relief.

I’ve overcome the biggest mountain with this.

“Hey, catch the teacher.”

“Even so, it’s a bit much to do that to the teaching assistant……”

“Are you worried about that when we’re about to die? Hey, Isabel, do you want to catch him together?”

“Why bother? He’ll come on his own anyway. It’s enough to torment him then.”

“Ah.”

Of course, there was one mountain to cross before that.

There were several mountains after that.

In my opinion, the mountain in front of me seemed the most difficult.

Sigh, I sighed and walked towards Isabel.

‘Well, I won’t get beaten to death, will I?’

* * *

“Are you crazy? What were you thinking, saying that on the spot without consulting us?!”

“Ah! Don’t hit me, my bones will come out if you hit me wrong.”

“You need to be hit. You’ve been acting unilaterally without consulting us about everything since the old days. You need to be hit to come to your senses.”

Isabel, who mixed lights of various colors and implemented a baseball bat, chased me.

Hung─!

Every time she swung, I heard the sound of cutting through the wind, and I, who was frightened, desperately ran away.

But there was no way I could avoid it with my low agility.

“Shouldn’t we stop that? The teacher’s body is weak, so he might die if he gets hit wrong.”

“Hey, he’s a teacher. He’ll manage on his own.”

“Yes, Sith. Easy is right. He will do it himself.”

The students who were just watching the scene.

Everyone seems to sympathize with Isabel’s actions.

Seo Yerin and Noh Yoora looked a little uneasy, but they didn’t stop Isabel or say anything.

As I became alone like that.

I shouted in a desperate tone to survive.

“I can persuade you! I can, so stop for a second.”

“……How?”

How should I persuade them?

I was also deeply troubled.

But before that.

“No, you have to stop to persuade me.”

“Okay. Try it if you can. I’ll spare you if you persuade me.”

“Try it, Teaching Assistant. If you can.”

“Can you do it? I don’t think you can.”

“……Still, I believe in the teacher.”

“I honestly don’t care. Rather, if it’s a more difficult trial, I can gladly accept it.”

“I’m the same as Sith. I don’t care about the grade as long as I can get stronger.”

I’ll spare you if you persuade me.

At those words, I closed my eyes and thought.

There were several lines I had thought of in advance.

In this situation, I felt like I would get hit no matter what I said.

An unexpected scenario.

In the end, in order to persuade the students, I racked my brains to package it as much as possible, even if it was sophistry.

Eventually, I adapted some of the lines I had originally prepared.

Tamamo expressed her position on the three opinions I had come up with.

─You don’t think you can persuade those kids with sophistry, do you?

‘Shut up.’

─It seems like you really were going to do that. Hehe…… I’m looking forward to seeing how those kids’ expressions will change every time you spout sophistry.

Tamamo chattering noisily.

I want to grab her and punish her, but I couldn’t touch her first because she has no substance.

On the contrary, she can touch me.

I don’t know why I can’t contact her.

If possible, I would have shut her mouth.

‘You’re really going to see me after I grow up later. I’ll pay you back more than you’ve teased me so far.’

─Hmm~ You’ll have to be a Seven-Tailed Fox to do that. Can you hold out until then? Well, if you grow up and pay me back by then, I won’t have anything to say, but right now, shouldn’t you focus on the front rather than me?

When I looked straight ahead at her words.

“……”

Everyone didn’t have a very good expression.

To put it bluntly, an expression that looks like they’re about to hit me any minute now?

Ah, isn’t that a metaphor?

They might really hit me.

“I’ll explain.”

Just spare me.

Especially you, Isabel.

Put down the bat in your hands and Easy’s hatchet on her waist and let’s talk.

I know you’re not going to throw it at me, but instinctively, what’s scary is scary.

……Or is it?