I Became an Unknown Professor at the Academy - Chapter 23

November 17th.

The day of the practical exam at Arena Academy had arrived.

Baek Hana woke up at her usual time, ate her usual breakfast of cereal, brushed her teeth, and washed her hair.
Then, she sat in the empty study, blinking blankly.

-There’s something I need to take care of, so don’t worry and just focus on your exam.

Baek Woo-jin had casually dropped those words while she was happily eating her cereal, and then left the house.

Originally, Baek Hana had planned to pester him to accompany her to the exam venue, but her plan fell apart even before the exam began, which was why she was now sitting there blankly.

If it were anyone else, they might have spent the time web surfing, watching broadcasts, or reviewing the weaknesses of the monsters that would appear in the practical exam. But Baek Hana, having grown up in a unique environment, had little interest in such things, and she had already memorized the weaknesses of the monsters, so there was no need for further study.

For these reasons, she was spending her time in the study, filled with Baek Woo-jin’s scent, inhaling his fragrance in her own meaningful way.

-Baek Hana!!
-Damn, you’re gonna make my eardrums burst!

“……?”

Baek Hana, who had been intoxicated by Baek Woo-jin’s scent, enhanced by her abilities, slowly came to her senses at the all-too-familiar voices of her two friends.

-Huh? She’s not in the room?
-Did she go out?

The voices of her friends looking for her.
Only then did Baek Hana fully snap out of her daze and shout back.

“I’m in the study!”

Soon after, Maria and Edyn poked their heads into the study.

“Excuse me……”
“Is the Professor not here?”

Maria offered a polite greeting, while Edyn rolled her eyes, looking around for any signs of Baek Woo-jin.

“He left early in the morning.”
“Phew.”
“See? I told you the Executor had something to do.”

Only after receiving Baek Hana’s confirmation did the two girls fully enter the study. Then, they took deep breaths, inhaling the scent of the room.

“Haa… It really calms me down every time I come here.”
“If we made a perfume or aroma candle with this scent, it would be a huge hit.”

Baek Hana narrowed her eyes and glared at Edyn.
Friends or not, there were boundaries, and for Baek Hana, Baek Woo-jin was that boundary.

“Hey, come on. I was just joking.”
“…… So, what’s up?”

Baek Hana continued to glare at Edyn as she spoke.

“I thought we were supposed to meet at the exam venue. What’s going on?”
“Hey, stop glaring at me. When you squint like that, you look like the Executor, and it’s freaking me out.”
“Yeah, why are you saying unnecessary things and making Hana feel bad?”
“Aahh!!!”

Maria, standing next to Edyn, slapped her on the back and pushed her aside.
Then, she glared at Edyn, who was whining, and spoke to Baek Hana.

“The Executor said you’d be alone, so we came to check on you.”
“…… Is Claire-unni not there either?”

Maria nodded at Baek Hana’s question, and her expression turned strange.

“Did she go out on some business too?”
“No? The Executor is at the Temple today. Why?”
“Hmm. Never mind.”

Only then did Baek Hana’s expression return to its usual carefree smile.

“Damn… Why do you always hit the same spot?”
“I don’t know. Maybe there’s a magnet on your back or something. Anyway, Hana, are you sure you don’t need to prepare more for the exam?”

Edyn whined as Maria pushed her aside again, and she asked Baek Hana as she pulled out her smartphone from her pocket.

“Well, the monsters’ weaknesses are all memorized, and Claire-unni said that as long as I do what I usually do, it’ll be fine.”
“See? She’s not nervous at all.”
“Yeah.”

Edyn nodded in agreement with Maria’s statement.

“You two are the same, aren’t you?”
“Well, yeah.”
“We’re apprentice priests and paladins.”

Regardless of the content of the practical exam, the two of them were already guaranteed to pass due to their ability to manipulate divine power.

Although they didn’t need to take the exam, as they wouldn’t be eligible for scholarships or rankings, they had decided to take it anyway, both to accompany Baek Hana and to see the level of their incoming classmates.

“So, we have three hours to kill, right?”
“Yeah, I guess so.”

When Baek Hana nodded, Edyn flashed her trademark sleazy smile and took out her smartphone.

“Then, Hana, let’s do this together.”
“I’m not really into games……”
“Aah~ Come on, join us. Maria and I also got permission to start yesterday.”
“…… What is it?”

Baek Hana, who had no interest in games whatsoever, slowly read aloud the large letters on Edyn’s smartphone screen.

“The Guild?”

It was the game managed by the Amusement God, Bwiar.

**

[Arena Academy Auditorium]

-Make sure the heat boxes are working properly!
-I need a new magic stone.
-5~13 summoners, all systems operational.

Each Academy had different admission requirements, but most did not impose age restrictions. Arena Academy was no exception.

Awakening could happen at any age, so as long as one was an adult and their awakening had occurred within the last five years, they were eligible to take the exam, provided they were confident in their abilities.

For this reason, the Academies in each country were busiest at the end of the year, preparing for the influx of applicants.

And among them was Kang Hana, who had excellent grades but failed to receive an offer from the guild she wanted. Out of spite, she became a teaching assistant to a strengthening-type professor.

“Umm… 511 people… and… the order is… correct…”

The exam was held over three days, so the order was important.
Some applicants might be coming from distant provinces or even overseas.

A strict order had been established.
If this order were to get mixed up, it would cause a very troublesome and terrible situation—the evaluations would be mixed up.

Of course, there was an additional confirmation process before the test, but since there were occasionally applicants who were so nervous that they just answered “Yes!” to everything, it was necessary to be thorough.

‘I should’ve just joined some random guild.’

Kang Hana sincerely regretted her decision.

She never imagined that as a strengthening-type awakener, she would end up handling documents and paperwork for four years.
She wanted to quit right now, but if she endured for just two more years, she would be eligible to apply for an associate professor position, so she gritted her teeth and persevered.

‘…… And he did help with the thesis.’

He worked her like a dog, but on rare occasions, he offered a helping hand, and he never missed a payment, depositing the money into her account without fail. So, she had no choice but to endure.

-Beep.

[AM 09:13]

The exam was scheduled to start at 1 p.m.

If she skipped lunch, she could get about three hours of sleep.

“Ugh.”

Kang Hana lay down on the sofa, using the sounds of people and machines outside the door as a lullaby.

“…… Alarm.”

If she didn’t leave, someone would come to wake her up, but it would be a huge inconvenience, so she definitely needed an alarm.

-Beep.

As soon as she set the time, her arm fell limply onto the sofa.

Her consciousness, which was about to sink into a deep sleep, was suddenly pulled back to reality.

Kang Hana lifted her heavy eyelids and got up.
Then, she turned her head towards the entrance of the chief supervisor’s room.

A middle-aged man with a sturdy build and a stern expression stood there.

He was Kim Kyung-ho, a strengthening-type awakener and the lecturer for the practical combat techniques course.

“Ahem. Sorry to disturb your rest.”
“…… It’s fine. Is there something else you need me to do?”

He was also the professor who had been working her like a dog.

Kim Kyung-ho carefully closed the door and approached her. Then, he took out a document from his pocket and handed it to her.

“……?”
“Read it.”

She felt an odd sense of foreboding about accepting it, but unfortunately, she had no choice. So, she took the document from him and began to read.

“It’s a profile.”
“Yes.”

It was the profile of a young man who had just become an adult.

It included a photo, information about his awakened abilities, and other details.

“…… Professor.”
“Ahem.”

Kang Hana, who had been sharp-witted since childhood, realized the professor’s intention in giving her this profile.

“It’s not a difficult task, and… it’s something that other professors have done before.”
“Then why don’t you do it yourself? It’s strange for me, as a teaching assistant, to be evaluating the applicants.”
“Hey, you’re not just any assistant. You’re an elite who ranked high among the so-called Golden Generation.”
“Still, I can’t do it. I’ll pretend I didn’t see this.”

Kang Hana firmly returned the profile to Kim Kyung-ho, but he didn’t take it back. Instead, he straightened his face and said:

“Now that you’ve seen this, you’re already involved. You understand that, right?”
“What…?”
“Kang Hana. It’s in your best interest to think carefully about this. It’s a simple task of just filling in numbers, and I’ll give you a big push next year if you do this.”
“Ha……”

Kang Hana wanted to get up and leave right away, but she couldn’t.

Even if she gave slightly higher evaluations, no one would notice, and it wouldn’t guarantee the applicant’s acceptance.
More than anything, her desire to escape this miserable daily life was what made her hesitate the most.

However, what made her hesitate even more was the fact that he had suddenly dumped the supervisor role on her and that the request was suspiciously convenient.

It was obvious to anyone that if something went wrong, they intended to shift the blame onto her.

‘Ha…… This is driving me crazy.’

If she refused again, she might be taken to some obscure gate and dealt with as a way to keep her quiet.

“Hey, Hana.”
“……”

Kim Kyung-ho’s subtle pressure made Kang Hana bite her lip.

‘…… Damn it.’

No matter how she looked at it, this wasn’t right.

She took great pride in being a graduate of Arena Academy, but now they were asking her to tarnish the Academy’s reputation with her own hands.

Of course, from what Professor Kim was saying, it seemed that similar things had happened occasionally in the past.

‘Fine… Let’s just go for it.’

Kang Hana had been bottling up her frustrations for a long time, and she decided to use this opportunity to let it all out. She was about to throw the profile on the floor when—

Swoosh.

The document in Kang Hana’s hand naturally slipped out of her grasp, as if guided by an invisible hand, and flew through the air to the side.

Both Kang Hana and Kim Kyung-ho turned their gazes in that direction, and—

They were surprised for different reasons.

Unkempt, messy black hair.
An opaque pair of glasses covering half his face.
A towering height that made one look up.

“Huh……?”

The man standing there, holding the document in his hand, was someone she hadn’t been able to find any trace of and had reluctantly given up on.

The man—Baek Woo-jin—handed the document to Kim Sung-won, who was standing next to him, and said in a low voice:

“It seems the professors are quite dissatisfied with their salaries.”

A small bead of sweat rolled down Kim Sung-won’s freshly shaved head.