Academy’S Gumiho Is A Magical Genius [EN]: Chapter 178

Academy Gumiho is a Magic Genius – Episode 178

Academy Gumiho is a Magic Genius 178

No Fingers are More Painful Than Others (3)

While Baek Seung-woo left the academy and contacted his younger sister’s driver, whom he had used before, the faculty room was filled with the rustling of papers.

These weren’t just ordinary documents; they were magical texts brimming with countless mysteries.

For the past week, the professors had dedicated their personal time to a specific cause.

None of them used that time for research or personal matters.

“Most of the professors are focusing on training and establishing countermeasures.”

“Although they didn’t express it outwardly, they must have been quite upset. What are the remaining few doing then?”

While the professors spent their time individually,

The chairman, who controlled the flow of information, spoke with her secretary.

The documents she handed over detailed the professors’ activities.

Professors forgoing sleep and food for intense training.

Professors spending large sums to purchase A-grade skills [high-level magical abilities].

Professors without talent for fighting or training contacting parents to reassure them and prepare countermeasures.

Each in their own way.

Doing their best in the areas where they could contribute.

However, there were definitely those who weren’t pulling their weight.

“If you’re referring to her… or rather, that person…”

“Enough.”

“Yes? What do you mean…?”

“It seems the person in question has arrived, so why not ask directly? Don’t just stand there at the door, come in.”

“Then, excuse me, Chairman.”

A woman with an attractive smile, Nam Hwa-yeon, entered the room.

However, unlike her charming exterior, her dead, unfocused eyes gave people an unsettling sense of detachment.

The chairman, indifferent to such aloofness, said to her,

“What on earth have you been doing for the past week, locking yourself in your lab?”

“What else would I be doing at the academy but research? You know very well that I joined this group specifically for research, right?”

Her manner of speaking was peculiar, freely mixing formal and informal language.

It was a style of speech only acceptable from her, a leading figure in Chilseong Academy and an idol to all magicians.

“You know very well that’s not what I’m asking. Tell me clearly, what exactly have you been working so hard on for the past week?”

“It’s nothing particularly significant. I was merely designing a prosthetic arm for my disciple.”

“A prosthetic arm…?”

“Yes, no matter how expensive the prosthetics sold on the market are, they have clear limitations in reaction speed and joint movement.”

At Nam Hwa-yeon’s words, the chairman scratched her ear.

She couldn’t understand what she was saying at all.

“So, you’re saying you spent the week creating a design suitable for your disciple’s prosthetic arm, is that right?”

“Exactly.”

“You… your news is quite slow. Haven’t you contacted your disciple even once?”

“……”

“Seeing is believing. Take a look at the CCTV footage.”

With a swish,

The chairman turned the monitor on her desk around.

Then, CCTV footage from cameras installed throughout Chilseong came into view.

Among the numerous videos, the one in the corner was greatly enlarged, showing the main gate. The time was just an hour ago.

The appearance of the man who should have been hospitalized caused a brief stir in the quiet academy.

“Oh my?”

“You see it. His left arm is properly attached.”

“The possibility of his completely burned left arm regenerating is not very high, so it’s highly likely he’s using a prosthetic.”

Seung-woo usually extremely dislikes exposing his bare skin.

He wears gloves on his hands and only socks that completely cover his ankles.

The only exposed skin is his face, so there was no way to tell if it was a prosthetic or something else.

“…If the teacher prepared a gift, he should be ready to receive it gratefully.”

“……”

Whatever was attached to his left arm, her twisted desire to tear it off and replace it with her designed prosthetic was clear in her eyes.

The chairman closed her eyes at her appearance and silently prayed for Seung-woo’s well-being.

In her heart, she earnestly hoped that Baek Seung-woo would quickly wear her prosthetic. She didn’t want the fallout from Hwa-yeon’s obsession to affect her.

* * *

Meanwhile, the disciple left the academy and got into the car driven by his younger sister’s driver.

He didn’t remember the driver’s name.

Unless a name was truly important.

The man wasn’t even worth remembering.

As an aside, after arriving at the family estate, no one in the family took the initiative to be considerate of me.

Well, who would treat a cripple with a missing arm well?

“…I didn’t expect much, but I can’t help but feel unpleasant.”

A very long sleep showed me the dream of ‘Baek Seung-woo’.

That moment wasn’t very long, but the density of the dream, the emotions solidified within it, were enormous.

The original owner of this body wanted to kill the nine elders immediately.

The reason behind it didn’t seem to be simply their ignoring and undermining him. I didn’t know the reason even through the dream, but one thing was certain.

Those guys are my enemies.

And it wasn’t difficult to fulfill ‘Baek Seung-woo’s’ wish.

‘Enemies must be killed.’

The foolish assassin who threatened me was only allowed to feel the pain of his skin melting from the poison before I showed him mercy, but I wasn’t generous enough to extend the same courtesy to the elders.

“Move.”

“Wh, what…?”

“I said move. Do you think someone like you is in a position to walk alongside me? You’re just my sister’s driver, know your place.”

I got out of the car, and the driver blocked my path and walked slowly.

He said he was escorting me, but I knew his intention was to tie me down and widely announce to the family that a powerless head had returned.

For a moment, I felt annoyed.

I released killing intent towards the driver, and leaving him frozen in place by the sudden sensation, I leisurely strolled through the mansion.

Beautiful flower gardens and meticulously crafted landscaping.

The magnificent mansion pleased my eyes, but my mood was unpleasant all day long. The cause was within my own body.

I quickly adapted to the aftereffects and pain felt throughout my body.

However, the left arm wrapped in black bandages kept irritating my nerves.

Whether I was reading, resting, or undergoing rehabilitation.

It didn’t matter when.

“…I wish I could just tear it off.”

I couldn’t hide my annoyance.

The trait, 「False Bravado」, hides negative emotions that the user doesn’t want to express. However, annoyance was separate.

Enduring pain and groans was natural, but annoyance was ambiguous to consider negative.

Rather, it was an almost indispensable trait for acting arrogant.

But that didn’t mean I wanted to become such an irritable person.

‘Well, what can I do? Just thinking about those damn elders makes my brain freeze over.’

Deep sleep after several months.

Compared to the total amount of sleep others get, it was an infinitely short time, but that time had a greater impact on me than any other moment.

It was enough time for my body to change.

It was enough time to think about what I, as a human, should be running towards.

It was enough time to recall old memories and grudges, and for me to take over.

I closed my eyes in the midst of the flowers.

Then, the intense moments were vividly replayed in my head.

It was like a constant replay, as if trying never to forget those moments. In the process, I learned, even if only fragmentarily, why this damn left arm had grown.

‘The blood of the beast.’

It was also a phrase that newly defined ‘Baek Seung-woo’.

It was information gleaned through the black left arm, but it wasn’t very useful information. Rather, it deepened my worries.

‘It might be an element that shakes the very foundation of the person named Baek Seung-woo.’

Is this a risk factor?

Or an unrecovered MacGuffin [a plot device that drives the story forward]?

‘「The blood of the beast」. At least, I don’t have this phrase in my memory.’

From the moment I received confirmation that Eve had touched my head, my memory became unreliable.

However, even Eve, the great archmage of the world, cannot completely manipulate my memory. People naturally possess mental barriers befitting their status.

It refers to what is commonly called mental strength or tenacity.

The higher a person is, the higher their mental barrier naturally is because they must maintain a level befitting their position.

‘The reason I wasn’t captivated by the illusion of the guy I met in the other world was all thanks to the status that my soul originally had, and had to have.’

Therefore, the mental intervention of others does not work on me.

Even if the opponent has an enormous level of mental ability.

Even if I allow the intervention of others.

The lofty realm of the Sword Saint slowly reverses the abnormalities performed on his body. I cannot see all the memories I recall as false or fabricated.

And forgotten or manipulated memories will slowly find their place.

“But right now, it’s difficult to fully trust my memory.”

I still need time to recall the correct memories.

Until then, I can’t live distrusting my memory, so I came here.

A land full of those who reject me.

And a place where the gift Eve gave me is arranged.

What exactly is the identity of that gift?

It could be an object, or it could be a memory.

And depending on the case.

“…You.”

“M, me?!”

It could be a person.

“Yes, you. Come here.”

While walking around the mansion, a man caught my eye.

Snow-white hair and fox ears and tail.

There are only two tails, but what I feel from him is the energy of the same race. But he can’t be my brother.

The former head of the family and his wife had three children.

Two sisters and only one Baek Seung-woo were born.

So naturally, the man in front of me is a collateral relative of the Cheonho Baek family [a branch family of the main Baek family].

He was likely the son or grandson of one of the elders, or perhaps a relative with particularly thick blood.

“Bl, black tail?! I, I greet the head of the family!”

“A face I remember.”

“…?”

The man’s face hardened.

I had a feeling he was a relative of the elder.

If he was the grandson of those guys who boasted considerable power in the family, he would surely be flaunting his power while bringing a bunch of people with him.

And beyond reasonable inference, I had a flash of intuition that it was like that.

Meanwhile, the man’s expression was miserably distorted at the words that he knew his face.

It was like a soldier sensing his end.

At that sight, my memory became clearer.

“Ah, Head of the family, I, I am…!”

“27th Rear Unit. Aren’t you a private in the unit that supplies materials and hunts low-level monsters below the 9th level?”

A face in my memory.

However, it means the world outside this world.

I remember the same face as the guy in front of me.

Although his hair was dark brown and he had no tail or ears.

‘Surely… his name was Eunho.’

I remembered his face properly.

As a monarch, I was obsessed with knowing the names and faces of those who died for me and making their graves, so memorizing the faces of all the soldiers shone in this place.

Perhaps it’s because he was a soldier who survived even in the rear unit in that terrible war that he remains even more vividly in my memory.

But.

“H, how… How could such a noble person know about me…?”

“…?”

Oh, was it real?

Not a motif, but the original itself?

At that moment, I realized.

That he was Eve’s gift.