Chapter 14- Academic Advisory Assignment (6)
Only if you become S-rank can I complete the quest, and only if I complete the quest can I also…
Hmm.
What happens to me when I complete the quest?
When the quest appeared, the rewards that should naturally follow didn’t appear.
Even if I make Han Min-ha S-rank, nobody knows what will happen afterward.
Will it cure my tuberculosis?
Absolutely not, I don’t need such a thing.
Returning to my original world is the best option for me.
The problem is that in the worst case, after making her S-rank, another linked quest might appear.
No.
I’m not thinking about that now.
I only focus on completing the given quest to the best of my ability.
Just like I told Han Min-ha, I too will survive.
“Student Han Min-ha.”
“Y-yes…?”
“Let’s try to survive together.”
Han Min-ha couldn’t answer clearly and lowered her head.
Whether it was from embarrassment that made her heat up, a strange smell wafted from Han Min-ha’s body.
I wondered what the smell was, but it was just the smell of old clothes.
It seems she doesn’t use fabric softener, let alone perfume.
“Start attending afternoon classes from today. And think about it carefully and let me know tomorrow. Since this is a matter that requires consent from the student’s side as well.”
“Um… Professor…”
“You’re the one who said you had nothing to do after leaving the academy. I’ll wait.”
When Han Min-ha didn’t answer, I straightened my knees and stood up.
“See you later.”
Even until I left the room, Han Min-ha remained sitting still on the bed.
* * * * *
Teaching Assistant Bae Ye-bin, who had been anxiously waiting in front of the dormitory, came running hurriedly.
“How was it? Did you talk to her? What did she say?”
“We agreed to talk again tomorrow, and she’ll probably attend afternoon classes.”
“Is that so… Thank goodness…”
Teaching Assistant Bae Ye-bin sighed deeply.
“I was so shocked when she suddenly said she wanted to drop out today… I don’t even know how many times this has happened…”
The students Teaching Assistant Bae Ye-bin is in charge of are all in lower grades.
Without even having advisory professors yet, Assistant Bae Ye-bin must manage everything from the students’ daily lives to their studies.
In such a situation, it must be an extremely difficult and troublesome situation as students begin to leave one by one after feeling their limitations in talent.
Submitting Han Min-ha’s withdrawal form to the administration office must have been a choice made after trying to persuade her but ultimately failing.
Because there probably wasn’t anyone to ask for help.
“If Professor Gyo hadn’t come, Han Min-ha would definitely have left the Academy today. Her grades aren’t good, and she’s not a student the Academy needs to keep around…”
“You worked hard, Teaching Assistant Bae.”
“Ah… Thank you… I should go inside and talk with Han Min-ha.”
As Teaching Assistant Bae bowed to me and entered the dormitory, I turned toward the lecture building.
While walking to the lecture building and looking up at the sky, I saw a golden light flickering at the flight practice field in the distance.
Looking closely, someone was shooting up high while emitting a brilliant Aura, then quickly falling.
A golden Aura… I had a feeling it might be Yu Hee-won.
As far as I know, when Professor Jin Se-young flies, she trails a chestnut-colored tail similar to her hair color.
Although she fell in the middle, it’s impressive that she could ascend so rapidly when she hasn’t been enrolled for long.
She was truly born with remarkable talent.
* * * * *
[Professor! Han Min-ha went to afternoon class~!]
While I was in the lecture room during my free period after lunch, I received a message from Teaching Assistant Bae Ye-bin.
Fortunately, it seems she changed her mind.
If not, it could be that she couldn’t refuse after a professor personally came to her room and spoke while kneeling, and she might have moved along as if being dragged due to her personality.
Whether voluntary or involuntary, what’s important is that she continues to stay at the Academy.
To be honest, I don’t have any personal feelings toward Han Min-ha.
It might be because of the mental barrier, and most importantly, because I clearly recognize that I have possessed someone.
Everyone around me isn’t real people but characters in a novel.
In some novels, the possessor becomes too immersed and mistakes themselves as part of the possessed world.
Going further, they sometimes assimilate or get consumed by the possessed character’s personality and identify with them.
However, I use a mental barrier.
The mental barrier protects the mental state from external shocks and helps maintain cold rationality in everything.
I still know that I am a possessor and consider other characters as ones from the failed Academy novel.
So I wasn’t surprised at all when I received a call from the head of professors shortly after.
“Professor Gyo, you might not know, but there’s such a huge commotion right now.”
“What kind of commotion are you referring to?”
“What else could it be? Of course, it’s about Yu Hee-won.”
“Did Yu Hee-won’s parents call the Dean directly?”
A former S-class hero and Advisory Committee Chairman father.
And an only daughter who ranked first in the basic evaluation at Graford, considered the best among academies.
With some exaggeration, they could cut the Academy’s allocated budget and subsidies in half with just a cough – a family with such a tremendous background.
When such a family directly called the Dean about merely selecting a regular professor as an advisor, calling it a ‘commotion’ is not an exaggeration at all.
And this happened twice.
The previous call might have just been about paying attention to the advisor selection, but this time the level of expression would have been considerably higher.
“I’ll arrange for you to work with Yu Hee-won as an academic advisor right away, so keep that in mind.”
“Department Head. As I mentioned, I find it difficult to handle Yu Hee-won. While making me her advisor might be a quick solution since the Advisory Committee Chairman is pushing for it, in the long run, it will harm the academy. I’m a professor of an unpopular subject who has never advised students before. If I can’t guide Yu Hee-won to her desired level, then perhaps more than now…”
“My goodness.”
The Department Head sighed.
“We’ll think about that later and we need to put out the urgent fire first. Besides, frankly speaking, Yu Hee-won will be at least A-rank after graduation anyway. Just go along with what she wants and keep her happy. How much guidance do you think you need to give to someone who’s already complete?”
It’s not that I don’t understand why the Department Head is acting this way.
When someone who could shake the academy right now shows signs of discomfort, would they care about a mere professor’s stubbornness?
The only reason I didn’t want to take Yu Hee-won as my Advisory Student was because of Han Min-ha.
If I take both Yu Hee-won and Han Min-ha as Advisory Students, Han Min-ha probably won’t be able to endure it.
And Yu Hee-won won’t just leave Han Min-ha alone either.
There aren’t any other institutional issues or special restrictions besides this.
Hmm…
Given the current situation, blindly refusing Yu Hee-won isn’t the right move.
If the Department Head and Dean are determined to push this through, I’ll have no choice but to take Yu Hee-won anyway.
I could refuse, but that would create significant difficulties in my teaching career and inevitably cause major disruptions in the process of making Han Min-ha an S-rank.
Yu Hee-won and Han Min-ha…
Let’s accept for now and think about what comes next when we get there.
“Alright, Department Head. I’ll take Yu Hee-won. However, I have one condition.”
“What is it?”
“Nothing special. There’s a student named Han Min-ha whom I wanted to advise. I’d like to guide that child as well. That shouldn’t be a problem, right?”
“Han Min-ha? Who’s that?”
“Lower-class hero’s child bonus points…”
“Do as you please. There’s no limit on the number of Advisory Students anyway.”
The Department Head waved his hand as if he didn’t care about such things as long as they could do what Yu Hee-won wanted.
“Thank you, Department Head. I’ll proceed with that understanding.”
And that’s how the freshman valedictorian and the last-place student became my Advisory Students simultaneously.
The rumors spread instantly.
No one deliberately spread them.
It just naturally circulated until everyone at the academy knew about it.
A professor of an unpopular subject who had never taken on Advisory Students suddenly declares they will accept students.
And at that, simultaneously taking on Yu Hee-won, the golden spoon among golden spoons destined to graduate at the top of the class, and Han Min-ha, the fool who fainted during the basic evaluation.
What’s more surprising is that Yu Hee-won chose Professor Gyo Su-hyeon from Basic Defense Studies rather than Yu Hyun-ju from Comprehensive Attack as her preferred professor.
What else could be an issue if this isn’t one?
The faculty department was naturally the most stirred up.
Since everyone hoped to have Yu Hee-won as their student, the disappointment was great.
Would I have wanted to take Yu Hee-won?
But what could I do?
Yu Hee-won chose me, and the dean and department head forced me to choose Yu Hee-won.
Even Professor Heo Tae-hyun, with all his experience, wouldn’t have been able to avoid this.
The only fortunate thing was that I could include Han Min-ha as a side addition.
From the dean and department head’s perspective, anything was fine as long as Yu Hee-won’s parents didn’t raise any concerns.
In that process, they wouldn’t even notice a child like Han Min-ha or whatever their name was.
Fortunately, the professors also knew the inside story to some extent.
So I could avoid being misunderstood as having done some behind-the-scenes work to monopolize Yu Hee-won.
However, why Yu Hee-won chose me remained a mystery.
I don’t know the reason either.
In the original work, it was just a poorly developed premise where the heroine became obsessed after being captivated by Professor Gyo’s appearance at first sight, but…
Whether that’s still valid now that everything has changed with Han Min-ha’s appearance, well…
“I’m envious, Professor Gyo.”
Professor Yu Hyun-ju from Comprehensive Attack smiled at me.
“To be chosen by such an amazing student, congratulations.”
“It’s nothing to be congratulated for, Professor Yu. Rather, I can barely breathe from the pressure.”
Of course, that’s a lie.
With my mental barrier up, I won’t feel any pressure.
I just hope Yu Hee-won won’t do anything strange out of wounded pride from becoming a guided student alongside someone like Han Min-ha.
