Academy’S Gumiho Is A Magical Genius [EN]: Chapter 8

Academy Gumiho is a Magical Genius – Episode 8

Academy Gumiho is a Magical Genius Episode 8

Colleague (3)

Since I started writing lecture scripts for Nam Hwa-yeon, all I’ve been doing is writing scripts every day after work.

Whether she liked the scripts I wrote or not, my tasks were always directly assigned by her. Perhaps because I’m receiving tasks directly from the professor, the assistant instructors’ disregard for me hasn’t lessened, even after a week.

Even if I’m just a minor villain, being ignored this much stings.

At this point, I even started to think the errands I ran on the first day were better.

Currently, besides Nam Hwa-yeon, the only person who even talks to me is the head assistant instructor.

Perhaps because he’s worked under the professor for the longest time, he doesn’t care about the other assistant instructors’ opinions and acts as he pleases.

It seems like he’s picked up that attitude from Nam Hwa-yeon.

“Oh, our newbie. Are you working on Professor’s lectures again today? Impressive.”

“…It’s not as impressive as you make it out to be.”

“Hmm? Nonsense. It’s one thing if the professor asked you to do it once out of curiosity, but the fact that she’s ordering you to make scripts every day means she really likes your scripts. Have some more confidence!”

The head assistant instructor patted me hard on the back and told me to cheer up.

He approached the other assistant instructors as well, patting them on the shoulder or back and encouraging them. He’s a very cheerful person.

Perhaps that’s why.

I often feel the other assistant instructors’ gazes and atmosphere change whenever he pats me on the back.

I’m guessing it’s some kind of unspoken pressure, like, ‘Why is the head assistant instructor cheering you on too?’ Little did they know, their gazes were directed at my tail.

‘If you have something to say, don’t just give me the side-eye, say it with words.’

While I was getting worked up over the other assistant instructors’ behavior, I also understood them to some extent.

The more time I spend in this world, the more I realize what kind of existence a villain is. A villain is an enemy who must be destroyed by the protagonist and a being who must be criticized.

And I am one of those villains.

Whether it was that he used to abuse and verbally assault his fiancée in his school days, leading to their engagement being broken off, or that he beat up people he didn’t like so badly that they couldn’t even live a normal life, the rumors that he showed disgust towards orphans, telling them not to come near him, were widely known.

The guy I possessed was particularly nasty, even among the extra villains.

Furthermore, in the case of Baek Seung-woo, whom I possessed, his personal affairs are quite complicated. The existence of the massive Cheonho Baekga family [A powerful and influential family] was binding me.

I didn’t know much because Eve hadn’t explained Cheonho Baekga in detail.

It was a family with considerable power in this world, especially in South Korea, where the main family was located.

‘From large corporations to S-class guilds, there wasn’t a place that didn’t involve Cheonho Baekga’s hands.’

Eve had definitely said it was a declining family.

It’s said that even if a rich person goes bankrupt, they still have three years’ worth of food.

The truly wealthy don’t even show it if they go bankrupt once or twice.

Cheonho Baekga’s influence could affect even Seven Stars Academy, whether big or small. That’s why the assistant instructors were even more reluctant to have contact with me.

Because I’m the parachute appointment [Someone who gets a job through connections] head of that family.

A head of the family in name only, with no real power.

Even the few rights I had were being taken away by other members of my family.

Bad rumors were circulating on the internet, and the media was scraping them and publishing them in articles. How incompetent would I have to be for this to happen?

‘I need to fix what I can from now on.’

Gain enough power not to be killed by the protagonist, and have the means to control the family.

These are the things I need to prioritize while living in this world.

Amidst these complicated thoughts.

“Um, excuse me… Could you possibly help me with this?”

Someone spoke to me.

A voice completely different from Nam Hwa-yeon and the head assistant instructor.

I wondered what brave person had spoken to me.

“I, I’m not used to this kind of work yet… I’ve done as much as I can. If you don’t mind, could you spare some time for me?”

It didn’t seem like a brave person at all.

Her trembling voice and anxious eyes proved it.

She handed me a piece of paper.

“I have time, but is it okay to ask me for something like this?”

“Yes? I, I’ve only been here for a few days, so there’s a lot I don’t know. Was it rude of me…?”

“Not really.”

After talking to her, it seems she’s a colleague who joined at the same time as me.

So that’s why she could talk to me without knowing anything.

I scratched my head and took the paper she handed me.

“It’s not difficult to do, but how are you going to handle the aftermath…?”

“…?”

“No, it’s nothing. I’ll put it on your desk within an hour, so you can do something else in the meantime.”

“Ah, th, thank you!”

The colleague bowed 90 degrees and quickly walked away.

She ran quickly, almost fell, and then walked hesitantly. She’s quite unique.

I looked at the back of her head and scanned the document she had given me.

It was a simple document that could be entrusted to a newbie.

I was about to process the document in less than 30 minutes and put it on her desk when I heard a strange noise from somewhere.

A sound of someone scolding and reprimanding someone.

If it’s in this area, it must be near the water purifier and coffee pot.

“Haven’t you seen how we’ve been acting all this time? Where are your eyes looking!”

“I, I’m sorry…”

Curious about what was going on, I peeked my head out slightly, and the youngest assistant instructor, who had asked me for the document earlier, was being scolded.

“It’s been over a week already. If you had any sense, you should have figured it out by now?!”

“I’m sorry… It’s just that, he was the only one who seemed to have free time, so…”

“Ugh, this is driving me crazy. Hey, Reina, social life is all about being perceptive. If you act like that anywhere else, you’re going to be in big trouble!”

The reason for being scolded was obviously because of me.

Probably because she associated with me.

“…”

It’s an ambiguous situation to step in.

If I intervene now, I can mediate, but it will definitely mess up her future.

I don’t want that kind of situation.

I was just going to put the document on her desk and go back to my work when she made eye contact with me.

The youngest assistant instructor’s eyes widened, and her mouth opened slightly, so I put my finger to my lips and shook the document.

I moved carefully so that the man scolding her wouldn’t notice.

Then, I put the document on her desk and went back to my seat to drink coffee.

Man, it’s another tough day at work.

* * *

After finishing the arduous work, I went to the library.

“Oh, you’re here again today. Are you looking for magic books again?”

“Ah, yes. The books I read are all like that.”

“You must really like books.”

Since I’ve been borrowing magic books from the library every day after work, I’ve become familiar enough with the librarian to have light conversations.

Strangely enough, she doesn’t seem to know the rumors surrounding me and continues to talk casually. However, she often stares at my butt with a scary look.

Sometimes it’s scary.

“Hoo, let’s hurry up and find a book.”

Let’s stop with the useless thoughts and find a magic book.

I’ve long since mastered the basics of fire magic. Of course, there’s a difference between knowing it in theory and mastering it in practice.

It’s about time to start 본격적인 [full-scale] application.

I need to take magic books that will have a synergistic effect when combined with fire magic.

I roamed the wide library, searching for books related to curse magic or telekinesis.

Now I just need to find a book about incantations.

‘Where the heck is it?’

I couldn’t find it even after searching for its location on the library’s search computer because it wasn’t showing up.

Is it because incantations are such a minor magic?

It’s not easy to spot.

As I turned my head from side to side, I saw a few old books located in a corner.

Hoping for the best, I checked the titles and found that they were the magic books I was looking for. I took two or three books from the shelf and was about to go back to the place where I was going to borrow them from the librarian.

“…Was there always a place like this here?”

A small door that I had never seen before while going back and forth to the library.

I was fascinated by the somewhat old but antique design and tried to open the door.

Clunk, clunk.

When I turned the doorknob, it spun idly and the door didn’t open.

It seems like I need a key.

‘Why is there a place like this in the library?’

Is it a storage room?

The design of the door is too luxurious for that.

I’ll have to ask the librarian later.

Holding various kinds of magic books in my arms, I moved my steps to the place where I could borrow them.

Thump!

Perhaps because I brought a few too many books, it made a pretty loud noise when I put them down. The librarian, who was scanning the barcodes attached to the books, frowned and said.

“A total of 11 books. Are you planning to borrow all of these?”

“Yes, is there a borrowing limit?”

“No… There’s no limit for assistant instructors and professors, let alone students, but didn’t you usually borrow two or three books a day?”

As the librarian said, my routine had been to borrow books after work, read them all night, return them the next day, and borrow new books.

So I had always borrowed only two or three books, which was the amount I could read in one night. But today is a little different.

“I’ve been reading a specific genre, but I’ve been reading them all, so I’m going to try a variety of genres tonight.”

“Ah, I see…”

“Haha, I’ll only borrow two or three books from tomorrow, so you don’t have to worry.”

The librarian and I had a brief conversation, and it was getting dark, so I was about to go to the dormitory.

The antique door I saw earlier bothered me.

I asked, just in case.

“Do you know about the door?”

“Door? What door are you talking about…?”

“I found a door near the bookshelf where I took these books out.”

I showed her the old books related to incantations.

The librarian checked the titles of the books and then checked the identification numbers assigned to each book.

“AZ-2361… That’s a number that’s attached to pretty old books. If it’s in that area, you must be talking about the basement.”

“…Basement?”

“Yes, the library that’s visible on the outside is a three-story building, but it’s actually a four-story building including the basement.”

A fact that ordinary students and assistant instructors don’t know.

But I know it well.

Because I’ve heard from Eve about what’s hidden down there.

“The basement is a restricted area, and inside there──.”

“─The original copies of old magic books and books designated as forbidden books by the academy are lined up.”

“Oh my, you know a lot. Well, if you’re interested in books, you can’t not know about it.”

The library basement, where all sorts of ancient books are kept for protection or because they contain dangerous content, etc., which used to be read and borrowed freely in the library.

The Forbidden Archive.

There are also many magic books that have been lost long ago, making it a dream space that many magicians want to enter. However, the number of people who can enter there is limited.

I also want to enter the Forbidden Archive like other magicians.

However, my goal is not lost magic books or forgotten forbidden books.

‘The hidden piece in the deepest part of the library.’

A stroke of luck that appeared in the second half of the original story, and the best hidden piece that can be obtained in this academy, excluding intangible things such as relationships and connections with people.

─Vampires are one of the top races I’ve set up among the different races. The fact that the heritage of such a race is in the basement of the academy, doesn’t it make your heart flutter? Huh? Why is there something like that in the basement of the academy? Well, because it’s romantic for the Forbidden Archive to be located in the basement of the library! Ah, by the way, I’m going to write about exactly what’s there later!

I don’t know what’s in the Forbidden Archive.

At least it’s the Forbidden Archive. It must be something in the form of a book.

It could be magic, or it could be a skill book.

Maybe there’s a map hiding the vampire’s treasure.

‘Well, it’s definitely related to vampires. There’s a high probability that it’s related to bloodsucking.’

Vampires are an ancient race like the Cheonho, the predecessor of my race.

In the setting, they are a race that went extinct thousands of years ago, and only a very small number of their descendants inherit their power through atavism [reversion to ancestral traits], proving their existence.

There are several extinct races in this world, like vampires.

Their existence is proven by various traces, such as skills, artifacts, and demi-humans.

Among those various traces, the vampire’s heritage is by far the best.

‘Whatever the vampire’s heritage is, it will take a long time to adapt to it as much as its reputation. Should I learn healing magic just in case?’

There’s a possibility that it’s a skill that’s activated by making a wound and using blood.

In that case, healing magic is effective, so it’s not bad to learn it in advance.

I told the librarian that I would bring one more book and searched for the most borrowed healing magic book at the search desk. Fortunately, there was only one left in the library.

Thinking that I was lucky, I printed out a number ticket from the search desk.

TC-7847. It was not far from here.

After saying that I would be back in a moment, I arrived at the bookshelf with books starting with the prefix TC.

Let’s see, if it’s number 7847, it should be around here.

As I thoroughly scanned the top and bottom, a refreshing light green cover caught my eye.

That’s the book I was looking for.

As I reached out and grabbed the book, suddenly two hands overlapped.

It’s not like I put my hands together. Who in the world would put their hands together to grab a book?

As I felt the warm temperature through the gloves, I turned my head to the side and saw a girl.

A girl wearing a school uniform with brown hair tied back.

Her features were somewhat familiar.

“…Ah.”

The girl who attacked me a few days ago.

She’s definitely her.

At that time, she was wearing sweaty sportswear, and I saw her in a dark place where only one fluorescent light was on, so it was difficult to distinguish her face.

Seeing her in the bright library, I can definitely tell.

So this young girl hit my Adam’s apple.

“…Oh?”

As I stared intently at the girl, she also turned her head.

At first, we were sending intense messages with our eyes, as if telling each other to let go of the book we were both holding at the same time.

“Long time no see, right?”

As she pulled the book towards me with a smiling face, she also pulled the book, not wanting to lose.

I can’t let her take this no matter what.