Chapter 12- Academic Advisor Assignment (4)
Time flew by and it was now the period for selecting advisory students.
The professors in the faculty department frequently gathered in the staff room for meetings and each selected their students.
Today is the day when administrative assistants submit their class students’ preferred academic advisors to the faculty department.
So when professors and students match, they are immediately assigned as academic advisor and advisory student.
However, when there are mismatches, and when certain professors or students receive concentrated votes, appropriate adjustment is needed.
It’s not like you can just choose the student you like, and every student needs to have an academic advisor.
As expected, the professors’ greatest interest was in who Yu Hee-won would prefer.
Naturally, Professor Yu Hyun-ju of Comprehensive Attack emerged as a strong candidate.
Over there, Professor Heo from Information Acquisition and Operations was looking at me with a meaningful smile.
That person seems to already know the result.
Professor Jin Se-young sitting next to me whispered. “Professor Gyo, perhaps you choose Yu Hee-won too?”
“No. It seems other professors all want Yu Hee-won.”
“Of course. How important would it be to have the experience of being an academic advisor to a future S-class hero.”
“Is that so? I suppose so. But that kind of thing would be too burdensome for me.”
At that moment, the faculty department head entered the staff room with an approval form under his arm.
“Have you printed out the students’ preference list?”
“Ah, yes. Here it is. I got it from the head assistant.”
Professor Heo stood up and started passing around the documents in front of him.
The professors who received the list flipped through the pages looking for something.
They were trying to check which students preferred them, and which professor Yu Hee-won preferred.
“Huh…?” Professor Jin Se-young spoke first.
Following that, questioning exclamations started coming from here and there as gazes began concentrating on me.
“Professor Gyo… Yu Hee-won… chose you…?”
Jin Se-young looked at me with a puzzled face.
I just smiled without saying anything.
Because I already knew.
What I wanted to know wasn’t whether Yu Hee-won had chosen me.
It was who Han Min-ha had chosen.
Ignoring others’ gazes, I kept flipping through the pages to find Han Min-ha’s name.
Ah, here it is. Let’s see.
Huh? What’s this?
Han Min-ha’s preferred academic advisor field was blank.
Literally nothing was written there.
According to regulations, all students must have an academic advisor.
Different from administrative assistants, even if submitted blank like this, a professor must be assigned no matter what.
Hmm… blank…
This might actually work out better for me.
If Han Min-ha had preferred another professor, the process of becoming her academic advisor would have become a bit more complicated.
No one hopes for it, which means it doesn’t matter who it ends up being.
And…
Despite flipping through the documents multiple times, there were no students who wanted me as their advisor except for Yu Hee-won.
It’s not about my character or such issues, but rather how the Basic Defense subject is treated from the start.
If they’re going to choose an advisor, they would pick a professor with a useful major that could help them even a little after graduation.
Basic Defense is, how should I put it.
It gives off a “why bother…?” kind of feeling.
It doesn’t matter.
I don’t care how my major subject is treated.
However, separate from that, the other professors were still quite noisy about Yu Hee-won choosing me.
“Professor Gyo. Why did Yu Hee-won really pick you? I’m not looking down on Basic Defense, I’m just genuinely curious.”
When someone asked, I smiled and shook my head.
“I’m not sure. Perhaps it’s her way of expressing confidence.”
“That does make sense. Honestly, that kid… is kind of…”
At those words, the professors murmured and showed gestures of agreement.
Naturally, I heard that Yu Hee-won was showing exceptional skills not only in my subject but in other subjects as well.
Her arrogant and presumptuous attitude was the same across the board.
So while many professors wanted to advise Yu Hee-won, they didn’t seem to particularly like her.
Rather than Yu Hee-won herself, they were more interested in her abilities and background.
Due to Basic Defense being an unpopular subject and Yu Hee-won’s personality being what it is, the professors quickly understood the situation as stated.
Fortunately, there were no follow-up interrogations about whether there was some kind of behind-the-scenes story with Yu Hee-won.
They seemed to dismiss it as just a bizarre incident, thinking ‘Well, that’s strange.’
“You know the student preferences we compiled last time? Isn’t there a matching list for that? I’m sure I told someone to make one.”
“It’s been prepared.”
The head assistant and other assistants brought matching lists, one copy per person.
The professors immediately began busily flipping through the documents.
It was to check whether the students they wanted had also chosen them, or if there were mismatches.
Professor Yu of Comprehensive Attack had so many interested students that she had a separate page made, and other professors had students lined up according to subject popularity.
There weren’t any major surprises beyond Yu Hee-won choosing me.
Except for one.
“Huh? What’s this? Professor Gyo, is this true?”
“What is it?”
Jin Seyoung asked, pointing to a specific page.
“Han Min-ha. Did you really choose her?”
Then other professors around opened that page and showed similar reactions.
“Han Min-ha… isn’t that the one? With glasses and black hair.”
“Yeah. That deadbeat.”
Like Yu Hee-won, it seems Han Min-ha maintains a similar level across not just my subject but other subjects as well.
Still, to call them a deadbeat, I wonder just how bad they are…
“Professor Jin. How is Han Min-ha doing in your subject?”
“She hasn’t managed to leave the ground yet.”
At almost a month in, she can’t even manage floating, the basics of flight.
That is quite serious.
“Professor Gyo. After never taking on any advisory students until now, I was wondering what happened this year, but why this one of all people?”
“That’s right. Among all the new students… Why give yourself unnecessary trouble?”
When other professors threw questions at me with puzzled expressions, I smiled and answered. “Wouldn’t it be rewarding? To help and graduate a student like this.”
If I don’t volunteer as an advisor, Han Min-ha, who’s being called a deadbeat in the lower classes, will have difficulty graduating.
“How can you think like that… you’re amazing…”
Professor Jin Se-young, seemingly moved by my words, brightened her eyes and clasped her hands together.
For other professors, about half seemed to think ‘I see,’ while the other half had expressions like ‘What nonsense.’
Afterwards, the first round of matching was conducted under the department head’s leadership.
They roughly grouped everyone together and confirmed intentions between professors and students through interviews.
Then, based on the interview results, academic advisors are finally assigned.
While a student has only one academic advisor, an advisor can have more than one student.
From what I know, last year’s Comprehensive Attack and Flight courses had over twenty advisory students.
Since I only intended to take Han Min-ha, I didn’t pay attention to other students.
And anyway, no student wanted me.
How convenient.
* * * * *
The research building was constantly busy with students coming and going for interviews.
While most professors and students conducted interviews in a friendly atmosphere, taking walks and having tea, my case was different.
Interviews with potential advisory students are mandatory.
This is because interview contents must be recorded and registered in the system as evidence.
So I had to interview Yu Hee-won, and Yu Hee-won’s arrogant smile wasn’t a particularly pleasant sight.
“You requested me as your academic advisor.”
“I told you, didn’t I? That I wanted Professor Gyo to be my advisor.”
“Yes. That’s why other professors were quite disappointed. Many professors wanted to properly guide student Yu Hee-won.”
“What does that have to do with me?”
“It has everything to do with you.”
I looked at Yu Hee-won calmly and said: “I’m a Basic Defense professor. It’s an unpopular subject that’s almost useless to heroes, and moreover, my health isn’t good. In this situation, it’s truthfully a bit burdensome to guide an excellent student like Yu Hee-won.”
“So?”
“There are many other excellent professors at the academy. For example, like Professor Yu of Comprehensive Attack. Since it’s difficult to change advisors once assigned, think about it once more. Graduation isn’t the end. Rather, it’s the beginning. After graduation, you’ll have to fight all sorts of villains, so receiving guidance from other professors would be better than from me.”
Yu Hee-won twisted the corner of their mouth in a sneer. “I want to be Professor Gyo’s advisory student. And I think defensive techniques could be quite useful if learned.”
“But it was Yu Hee-won who called defense technique’s ultimate skill, mental barrier, ‘mental grabbing.'”
“You’re not still holding onto those words, are you?”
“Rather than holding onto them, I’m remembering them. What I want to say is this: I am a person with many shortcomings when it comes to being Yu Hee-won’s advisor.”
Yu Hee-won narrowed their eyes and stared at me intently. “By any chance, have you also selected your desired defense Advisory Student, Professor?”
“No. As you know, I haven’t taken any Advisory Student for several years.”
As I lied without batting an eye, Yu Hee-won carefully examined my expression.
But detecting signs of lies from me, who uses mental barriers, would probably be impossible.
“I understand what you’re saying, Professor. But…” Yu Hee-won stood up and looked down at me condescendingly while saying: “It will probably end up that way.”
That arrogant confidence…
After Yu Hee-won left, I immediately called Bae Ye-bin, Han Min-ha’s managing teaching assistant.
“Assistant Bae. Please send Han Min-ha to my research office as I need to interview them regarding the Advisory Student’s selection.”
[Ah… Han Min-ha…?]
Assistant Bae hesitated with uncertainty.
“Are there any restrictions?”
[Restrictions… that… Professor Gyo. I’m sorry but student Han Min-ha… withdrew from school as of this morning…]
