Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Opening a Course (1)

My match against An Seri ended in my overwhelming victory.

Wasn't it embarrassing for a professor to beat a student? No. Not in the slightest. If anything, I was glad to have proven my skill against An Seri.

2 minutes, 1 second.

Honestly, a slightly disappointing record.

By my calculations, I could've cleared it within 1 minute 30 seconds, but the mages had been wiped out too early.

If I'd had more time, I would've assembled a party that reduced the variables. Still, it was far better than having the entire party wiped and failing to clear.

In that sense, An Seri's party wasn't bad either.

If the goal were to build a party that guaranteed everyone's survival, I would've adopted the exact same strategy she did.

In any case, I'd succeeded in making An Seri my ally.

She could've ignored a verbal promise, but An Seri wasn't that kind of person. Proof of that arrived as a message.

Ding!

─Mentor's effect activates. A small amount of experience gained. (Target: An Seri)

The Mentor skill's targets were limited to companions.

Because she'd acknowledged me as her mentor, the lesson she'd learned from her defeat was treated as experience, triggering the skill.

─Mentor's effect activates. A small amount of experience gained. (Target: Lee Yeeun)

Right on cue, experience also came in from Lee Yeeun, who was probably revising her report as we spoke. The paper I'd told her to read must've had an effect. The gamble had paid off.

This was the best possible outcome.

I returned to the faculty office and pulled out all the books I'd borrowed from the library.

Should be enough to understand the report now, right? Add the Teachings of Seshet on top and it'd be plenty.

"Whew, this is complicated."

As expected, it wasn't an easy process.

If I'd known it would come to this, I should've actually read the game's lore instead of just playing. Looking at the complex magical theories made my head spin.

But after chewing on it for a long while, I could at least grasp the basic theory.

"What the hell? This actually works?"

As a result, I understood why the professors had dismissed Lee Yeeun.

They say you can only see as much as you know. Now that I'd opened my eyes to magic, Lee Yeeun's report looked like nothing but nonsense. Modify magic circles? How was that even possible?

But the game had proven it was.

"So this is why they call her a genius......"

I didn't get it. If the professors couldn't understand it, how was I supposed to? Might as well just sleep.

Just as I was gathering my things to leave, a knock sounded.

Knock, knock—

"Come in."

The door opened and Lee Yeeun walked in. Lee Yeeun? At this hour of the morning, why... wait, this feels like déjà vu.

"Good morning, Professor!"

I'd pulled another all-nighter. At least I hadn't embarrassed myself by fainting this time. Instead, I was absolutely exhausted.

I wanted nothing more than to collapse face-first onto the desk for even a moment's sleep, but I held back through superhuman willpower.

"Yes, good morning."

"What's all this on your desk? Let me see... huh? Why are you looking at this stuff?"

Lee Yeeun surveyed my desk and looked puzzled.

These were contents that had barely been within my reach even after pulling an all-nighter, but for Lee Yeeun, they were basics she could recite with her eyes closed. Obviously, the thought that her professor had been studying from these wouldn't have crossed her mind.

"I'm not exactly well-versed in magic, so I did some studying before you came."

"Pff, just say you don't want to share your secrets."

Lee Yeeun reacted as if she'd heard the world's most boring joke. It's not a lie, though.

After jumping to her own conclusions, was she planning to make me pay for "lying"? Lee Yeeun set her bag down and started making coffee. Loading it up with sugar and creamer. What happened to the coffee-making lesson from last time?

"You look tired. Have some coffee first!"

"The sight of your dedication woke me right up, Miss Yeeun."

"Come on, drink up."

Lee Yeeun's eyes betrayed a determination to turn me into a sugar addict. This was trouble. One sip, and a saccharine sweetness flooded my mouth.

"...Gross."

Coffee aside, I held out my hand to signal she should just bring the report. Lee Yeeun, apparently confident, swiftly pulled it from her bag.

The paper seemed to have helped considerably—quite a bit of content had been revised.

"Oho."

When a sound of admiration escaped my lips, the corners of Lee Yeeun's mouth trembled as if struck by an earthquake.

Sorry, but I wasn't impressed by Lee Yeeun's report. I was impressed with myself for being able to understand it. The thought "Am I actually a genius?" crossed my mind all on its own.

As for my evaluation of the report—it seemed to have improved significantly. The previous version had left me baffled as to how she'd arrived at her conclusions, but this time, it at least made sense.

It still sounded like bullshit, but this was a massive leap forward.

Above all, skills didn't lie. Gaining experience through the Mentor skill meant growth had occurred. So naturally, the report would've improved too.

"It's gotten somewhat passable."

"Ah......!"

Hearing my non-compliment compliment, Lee Yeeun bounced up and down.

I wanted to praise her properly, but I wasn't sure enough. I needed an excuse in case there were errors I'd missed—so it couldn't look like I'd passed them out of ignorance.

"Have a research proposal ready by next week. We need that to apply for the budget and rent equipment."

"Yes!"

The urge to go home was creeping in, but I still had work to do.

Yesterday, a mail had come from the academy administration asking me to submit a syllabus. I'd secured one student, but I hadn't even decided on a course name yet. The deadline was today, so time was tight.

"Oh, Miss Yeeun. Do you have any schedule besides the research?"

"No. Nothing in particular—why?"

"Then I'll be putting your name down as my teaching assistant."

"T-TA?"

It was a unilateral announcement, not a consultation. Refusal was refusal, though. I had no other option besides Lee Yeeun.

"I've already deposited the salary into your account as an advance, so don't even think about backing out."

It shouldn't be a bad deal for her either.

In the story, Lee Yeeun was poor enough to rely on scholarships for living expenses. The mention of a salary made Lee Yeeun's eyes change.

"I'll do it!"

"An excellent choice. I'll send you the syllabus by this evening."

After sending Lee Yeeun off, I deliberated over what kind of course to teach. What subjects did professors normally offer? Their own specialty, obviously.

First, I needed to check what my specialty even was.

No matter how hastily a character was made, there should be some appropriate backstory. There's no way there was nothing, right?

I dug around looking for anything, and inside the office desk drawer, I found papers that the pre-possession Cha Eunwoo had written.

But wait—were these really papers Cha Eunwoo had written?

"These are all my walkthrough guides......"

Leveling guides by class for newbies, tips for dungeon raids—things I'd made to upload to X-Tube but that had turned out to be completely useless. And these counted as academic papers?

Thinking about it, it made sense. This world was one where the game had been made real. After digging further, I found that my specialty was something called Convergent Awakened Studies.

"Didn't they just slap a fancy name on a grab-bag major?"

Well, it was better than swordsmanship or magic, neither of which I knew how to use.

For the course, I went with... Dungeon Research and Practicum.

I'd procure a few beginner-level dungeons, analyze them, then have students clear them directly.

Week 1 would be orientation. Weeks 2 through 15 would be divided into three-week blocks covering five dungeons total—analysis followed by hands-on raids. No midterm or final exams; instead, I'd grade them based on their dungeon clearing performance.

Since dungeons naturally required party-based clearing, all coursework would be group assignments. I could already hear the students cursing me out, but whatever. It wasn't like I was the one taking the class.

After drafting a simple syllabus, I emailed it to the department office. It wasn't long before an approval response came back.

"Being a professor might not be so bad."

Florian Rhapsody had a strong reputation as a trash game among the general public, but it was different among skilled gamers.

The punishing difficulty that tested one's limits and the gameplay perfected through astronomical amounts of funding had drawn RPG veterans from all over the world.

Among them, plenty of players had better mechanical skill than me.

Yet the reason I'd cleared it with the fastest progression speed was—

When it came to strategy, nobody was better.

I could say with absolute confidence: if anyone studied enough to earn at least an A in my course, they'd survive to the endgame.

I didn't know who'd end up taking this course, but whoever it was would be getting the greatest opportunity this game had to offer.

My only worry was that enrollment was capped at 40.

In my college days, popular courses filled up instantly. What if every student rushed to register for my class and crashed the server? Well, that'd be the school's problem, not mine.

...There was a time I actually thought that.