Academy’S Gumiho Is A Magical Genius [EN]: Chapter 88

Academy Gumiho is a Magic Genius – Episode 88

Academy Gumiho is a Magic Genius Episode 88

Preparing for the Performance Evaluation (3)

Perhaps to hide her face, which was as red as a persimmon, Seo Yerin walked two steps ahead of me, and I followed behind.

We were heading to the training grounds.

We had left with plenty of time to spare, so there was still a considerable amount of time before work.

Going to work early wouldn’t improve my image, and it would only increase my workload. So, I planned to use this time to assess her proficiency and the performance evaluation assignment.

─You said we’re going to the training grounds. Do all the students train in places like that?

‘Most of them, right? Why, do you want to train in the training grounds too?’

─As if. I was just thinking about whether I should teach the thirty spells I owe you there.

Ah, right.

There was that too.

I had forgotten for a moment because I had so much to think about.

Especially because of the love letter.

‘We can practice spells there from now on.’

In exchange for burying me in the deepest part of her heart, I squeezed out a month of free lessons, one per day, from her.

While teaching her in the training room, I could learn too.

─By the way, Seo Yerin, was it Yerin? She’s very pretty and lovely, just like her name. Not as much as you, but she has that fresh feeling from her *Jihak* days [referring to her youthful, student-like aura].

‘Because she’s the heroine.’

─Heroin……? What kind of foreign word is that?

‘It’s nothing really.’

It wasn’t a very important topic anyway.

I was about to cut off Tamamo’s question and bring up the next topic when.

─By the way, Contractor.

Tamamo beat me to it.

She was looking at me with a questioning look, and at the same time, an incomprehensible gaze.

Why is she suddenly like this?

Well, does she have something urgent to ask?

─It might be a little embarrassing to ask.

‘What is it? Don’t worry about it and tell me.’

I urged her to speak, curious about what she was going to ask amidst all the nonsense.

And I immediately regretted that action.

─Why don’t you react?

“……Huh?”

Tamamo’s question swallowed the subject.

At the same time, her gaze turned to my lower abdomen.

No, what on earth.

What reaction is she talking about?

And where is she looking?

─There are so many unusually beautiful women around you. Especially with me by your side, you should be quite conscious at your age. But there’s no reaction or sign at all.

……Huh?

Is it because she’s a Gumiho [a nine-tailed fox spirit known for their beauty and allure]? The question is a bit strange.

Or is it because of the difference in eras?

Feeling a headache coming on, I grabbed my head with my right hand and replied.

‘Because I’m healthy. Don’t worry.’

Even with my firm answer, her suspicious reaction didn’t stop.

Rather, she seemed to be confirming her suspicions.

─Were you perhaps impotent?

“……Are you finally crazy?”

There are things you can say to a man, and things you shouldn’t.

I narrowed my eyes and glared at Tamamo.

Then, perhaps embarrassed, she turned her head and scratched it.

As Tamamo turned her head, I let out a small sigh that no one could hear and brushed down my chilled liver [a Korean expression for feeling relieved or scared].

I almost got caught.

‘……His words aren’t entirely wrong.’

My sexual function is normal.

Therefore, I am not impotent.

If I were, would I have done that in ‘Efnell’s Garden’? I didn’t have a perverted taste for spreading my pain to others.

However, the reason why I don’t react even when there are beautiful girls around me is.

Could it be PTSD from killing my first love with my own hands?

That’s all I can cautiously think.

The time I spent with her, my teacher, has been flowing for years without being worn out or degraded. Because it was floating around in my head.

I still remember it clearly.

That’s why it’s even more painful.

* * *

“Teacher.”

Blackened, burned land.

On the barren land where not even a single blade of grass could grow, a pair of men and women were investigating the soil.

The barren land was home to all sorts of monsters, making it very dangerous.

In fact, they encountered groups of monsters several times while investigating the soil.

─Rustle!

Of course, they had enough power to protect themselves.

Leaving the woman who was conducting the investigation, the boy, Baek Seungwoo, who was wielding his sword to protect her, spoke. Is he finally about to hit puberty?

His short stature proved that he was still a very young boy.

Even so, his hair was dyed as white as that of an old man, so unless it was dyed, one could glimpse how difficult his life had been.

“Teacher, what have you been doing since earlier?”

Teacher.

As you can infer from that word, we were master and disciple.

Hanging similar-length longswords from each other’s waists, wearing leather gloves to avoid dropping the swords from their grips, or wiping sweat with their left hands, and so on.

They were master and disciple who resembled each other in many ways.

Of course, they didn’t resemble each other in appearance.

If I was a boy with white hair like that of an old man.

My teacher was a woman with fiery red hair, as if the word passion had been brought to life.

“Did you just follow me without even knowing that?”

“Well, if my teacher is coming, I, as her escort, must follow.”

“You’re about to face your S-class promotion battle, and you’re acting like this. Are you going to follow me even on the day of the promotion battle if I have something to do?”

That’s a very obvious thing to say.

If my teacher moves, I’m prepared to follow her even on the day of the promotion battle.

“You…… There’s something strange in your eyes. You’re not really going to follow me, are you?”

“Hey, even if I’m young, I wouldn’t do that. An S-class promotion battle isn’t an opportunity that comes easily, so would I cause an accident even on that day?”

“I think you would, that’s why.”

I just matched my teacher’s words with some platitudes.

Honestly, from my perspective, A-class or S-class didn’t matter much.

In the military nation to which my teacher and I belonged, the ranks were divided more by skill and achievements than by the hats according to player rank.

And I had already satisfied those two conditions of skill and achievement.

“Seungwoo, you should be promoted to general soon. How long are you going to lead only the special forces?”

“Leading a hundred members of the White Sword Unit is enough for me. If I lead more than this, something big might happen.”

“You, that’s only for a moment. Everyone is hesitating because you’re still young, but if they see your command skills, the higher-ups won’t let your talent rot in the special forces.”

“Yes, yes, I understand. Let’s talk about that later. Teacher, you’ve been changing the subject since earlier, what are you doing?”

Cutting off my teacher’s words, I asked about the main point again.

I couldn’t understand why someone like my teacher was investigating the soil of this barren land.

To my question, my teacher kindly answered.

“Well, of course, I’m investigating the changes in the land I burned. Ah, that’s why you have to control the firepower of the flames well.”

I tilted my head at her words.

I thought the land that had been green until recently had all become barren, but it was my teacher’s work.

Then this terrible sight is understandable.

But even if this barren land was my teacher’s work, there was no need for my teacher to do menial tasks such as investigating the soil and geology.

That’s because my teacher was one of the eight people at the top of the military nation. She just had to point her finger and that was it.

She could just have the lower ranks do the soil and geological surveys, which were close to simple labor.

Why is she buying work even on a golden holiday?

As a young man, I couldn’t understand.

“This is completely burned. There’s no possibility of the land recovering at all.”

“I heard that your flames are still burning like hellfire in the northwest. What on earth did you fight that you messed up the firepower control like this?”

Even though she was a senior officer as well as my teacher, I couldn’t stop the rebuke.

Food is more important than anything else in war.

As the front line was prolonged, this area was selected as land suitable for cultivation.

You completely burned tens of kilometers of land.

And with a 0% chance of recovery.

“Th, then can’t we do something with Eve’s ?”

As if she didn’t expect it to be this bad.

My teacher forgot her face and spoke in a flustered tone.

“I can’t. You know better than anyone what kind of flame is .”

“Th, but……! Ah, then if Eve’s doesn’t work, then with your …….”

“I can’t.”

Eve’s ability to twist the laws of the material world, .

My ability to handle the mysteries of the stars, .

The ability that these can’t cover is my teacher’s , also known as sulfur fire or fire of destruction.

A fierce fire that, once lit, never goes out and burns with the intention of burning everything in the world. The power of that flame is indescribable, so once an accident occurs, it’s difficult to clean up.

But the problem was that this barren land wasn’t the only incident caused by this .

“I’ve warned you several times to use appropriately. This is already the third fire incident this year, the third.”

“Ahaha, is that so.”

“You should have been more careful.”

I rebuked my teacher for burning all the land that would be used for farmland.

At times like this, I don’t know who is the teacher and who is the disciple.

Looking at it, my teacher seems younger than me.

But that thought didn’t last long.

Unlike me, who was stuck in the early 150cm range even though I was 15 years old, which is the time to grow, my teacher was in the late 170cm range, which is quite tall among women.

No matter how you look at it, anyone can see that my teacher is older than me.

‘Haa, when will I really grow taller.’

I raised my hand above my head.

A height that is quite short for a boy in the midst of secondary sexual characteristics.

The teachers tell me that I’ll grow up later, so don’t worry. Wei and Seokjun, who are also boy soldiers like me, are 10cm taller than me.

Haa, I can only sigh.

When I complain to my teacher about this frustrating feeling, all that comes back is a loving look and a hug. It was a typical way of treating a child.

“Do you want to grow taller? But no. Seungwoo is cutest and most lovable just as he is.”

“It’s not easy to wield a sword on the battlefield with a lovable appearance. Especially how difficult it is to deal with monsters with long ranges or nimble limbs.”

It’s inconvenient in many ways to be short.

Especially when fighting.

As I became proficient in swordsmanship and my level increased, the importance of the length of my limbs decreased. Nevertheless, there was a limit with short limbs.

My teacher doesn’t know my heart.

With that in mind, I puffed out my cheeks and turned my head away.

“Then, this teacher will have to hold on to our Seungwoo tightly. Because he’s too small to fight?”

Hugging me tightly, my teacher teased me with the height difference.

A cozy height difference that fits snugly in her arms.

I should be happy that I was hugged by my teacher, whom I usually love and admire, but I felt the throbbing in my head before the throbbing in my chest.

I was annoyed by her words.

So I blurted out information that I shouldn’t have.

“Ugh, stop it. I also received the title of Sword Master (劍主) instead of Sword Dragon this time……!”

Sword Master, in other words, the owner of the sword.

It’s an excessive title for me to receive at just sixteen years old, but I have the skills and achievements to match.

More than anything, I had a natural talent.

“Sword Master……?”

“……Ah.”

But the problem was that the title of Sword Master was the title of Master (主) that only 100 people could receive in the current era. The title with the modifier ‘Master’ attached to it was higher in rank than any medal in the military nation.

An element that could affect the symbolism as well as the morale of the military.

The higher-ups of the military nation announced this fact to me first.

In the near future, they planned to award me the title of Sword Master officially along with the medals for my past deeds.

Of course, all of this was confidential.

“You…… who said they would give it to you?”

I blurted it out in front of her.

“Th, that……that’s.”

“Tell me quickly.”

My teacher said reproachfully.

I had no choice but to confess everything, and my teacher learned that the higher-ups were trying to use me strategically and for publicity purposes.

A clear face and a typical pretty boy image for a young boy.

There was no one better than me for the military nation’s publicity. The title of Sword Master was also mixed with such political aspects.

Of course, I had already grasped the higher-ups’ intentions in advance.

I may be young, but my thinking ability and judgment were not immature.

Everything was a calculated action.

However, my teacher hated me getting involved in politics.

She seemed to want me to remain a pure boy forever.

But to do that, my skills were too outstanding.

A锥in a bag [a Korean idiom meaning talent cannot be hidden], my sword was too sharp to be only in my teacher’s pocket.

Two months ago, a monster had flowed into a civilian house.

The monster’s danger level was 4th tier.

A grade with the ability to destroy a city alone. I proved my skills by subduing him alone before I even became an adult.

The player rank, which had to go through official procedures, was still at A-class.

Now it’s as good as S-class.

No, it had risen to the level of competing for the top spot among S-classes.

The title of Sword Master that the citizens and the military nation gave me also supported my skills and achievements. Although political elements were mixed in, the achievements were not diminished.

But even these achievements.

To my teacher, it was no different than a firefly showing off in front of sulfur fire.

She was the living legend of the military nation.

Because that was her itself.

“……Do you really have to receive that title?”

“Yes, no matter what.”

“Even though you won’t be able to stay young anymore?”

“I’m not a child anymore, so it’s okay.”

Among them, the title of Sword Dragon (劍龍), which is evaluated as the best and strongest among the latecomers who handle swords.

It had been my proud title for several years, but at the same time, it meant that my skills were still at the level of a latecomer. Because of that, I wanted to get rid of Sword Dragon as soon as possible.

The title of Sword Master was proof that I was finally recognized as a hero.

It was like being reborn as a soldier, not a boy or a latecomer.

But I didn’t know it at the time.

That becoming an adult meant giving up so much.

There are adults everywhere around me.

No one told me about the pain of loss.

In those days, I was just happy to look at my teacher’s face. Her smile was so beautiful and brilliant that it could not even cover up the terrible battlefield.

I often spent time with my teacher.

Even that small amount of leisure and happiness.

After becoming a soldier and a hero, not a boy or a latecomer.

It was hard to find after I took over the position of Commander-in-Chief and Commander of the military nation. My teacher’s and my were strategic weapons that boasted the strongest destructive power among all the abilities in the military nation.

The range of action and the front line had no choice but to be separated.

After that, I finished investigating the soil, received the title of Sword Master, overcame numerous battlefields and adversities.

And after reaching a position where I had to bear numerous responsibilities.

My teacher told me.

“Your heart is still a child, but the burdens placed on your shoulders are shouting that you are an adult. Now you are stronger than me.”

Then or now.

The night sky with her was full of stars.

“So.”

My teacher leaned her head on my shoulder and continued.

“If I have to die, if I go crazy, please kill me with your own hands. My beloved…… my disciple.”

A cowardly will that predetermines her own death.

No matter how many times I think about it, her request was cowardly.

Because in the end, according to her will, she was killed by my hands.

And another burden was added that was too heavy for a boy who was not yet an adult to bear.

I stared blankly at the night sky full of stars.

Astrology, I heard that in the West there is a study that reads the stars and predicts people’s fate through astronomy.

Then, are all the constellations intertwined in that sky our fates that live fiercely on this harsh land?

I lamented as I looked at the colorful fates intertwined in the constellations.

I hate fate.

The fate I didn’t want.

Just because it was fate.

It led me to the end of hell.

Sulfur fire was burning at the end of hell.

And that hell has not ended even now.

Even in the old days

Even at this moment.

My teacher’s did not go out.

It dug into my heart and burned without being satisfied even after turning my heart into ashes. And I was always trapped inside it.

Forever and ever.