Chapter 3 – Something’s Wrong With This Development (3)
I stopped by the lab and took a handful of medicine.
My head was spinning until just now, but it’s almost better now.
I thought I was going to die just like that.
After catching my breath for a moment, I headed to the administrative office.
It was to check the freshman roster.
At this point, it would be better if that girl is Han Min-ha.
If her name isn’t on the freshman list, things might get a bit complicated from then on.
Through the corridor window, I could hear the noisy commotion of freshmen just leaving the auditorium.
The freshmen spend their morning getting dormitory assignments and organizing their belongings, then participate in orientation in the afternoon.
There, freshmen learn the school rules, familiarize themselves with the facilities, and acquire other basic knowledge necessary for life at the academy.
And then tomorrow is the basic evaluation right away.
It’s a very important evaluation that determines the direction of future academy life.
According to the original story, Yu Hee-won ranks first in the basic evaluation.
She’s at a level where she could become at least a D-rank hero right now, having received all sorts of private education even before entering the academy.
After that, she’ll blatantly choose me during the advisory professor assignment period.
But now no one knows what will happen.
Because suddenly Han Min-ha has appeared in between.
Let me organize the earlier situation once more.
First, the alleviation of lung disease.
The lung disease I’m suffering from doesn’t cause the pain of coughing up blood all day.
Usually it ends with mild coughing, sometimes becomes somewhat serious, then subsides again, repeating irregularly.
So I can’t necessarily consider the finger contact with that girl as the main reason for the coughing subsiding.
It could have just coincidentally overlapped with the moment when the intensified symptoms temporarily improved.
Second, about the letters in the air.
I’ve never heard the name ‘Han Min-ha’ before.
Neither in reality nor in this world.
Even when I search through my memories, there was no character with that name until the final chapter.
Yet the letters were clearly ‘instructing’ to make this ‘Han Min-ha’ person into S-rank.
Why is it appearing now of all times, after months of silence?
Because of contact with the person presumed to be Han Min-ha?
No… I bumped into that girl at the main entrance earlier too, so why didn’t it appear then?
Maybe she isn’t Han Min-ha.
Perhaps she just happened to meet me at the moment when the quest appeared.
But I really can’t understand no matter how much I think about it.
Han Min-ha instead of Yu Hee-won…
The possessed person has to make an unknown character S-rank instead of the original heroine?
What a crazy development.
Even if it’s right to write with conviction, shouldn’t you meet reader’s expectations to some extent?
With mediocre writing skills, instead of clever plot twists and cliché subversions, you’ll just hear comments like ‘the plot sucks.’
After various thoughts, I arrived at the administration office.
When I opened the door, the smell of old paper greeted me.
Half-open cabinets filled the walls with paper bundles sticking out between them, seal storage boxes, and color-coded file binders were visible.
On another wall, there was a large multifunction printer and shredder, with precariously stacked waste paper that hadn’t been shredded yet.
There were several staff members in the administration office, but no voices could be heard.
They just stared at their monitors with tired, hollow faces, scrolling their mouse wheels or typing on keyboards while sighing deeply.
As I entered, a junior female employee stationed near the entrance lazily looked up at the presence of someone.
The employee, with eyes that seemed to have seen it all, spotted me and quickly lowered her head with eyes wide like a rabbit’s.
“Teacher… Professor is here…”
The employee whispered quietly to another employee beside her.
Then the employee next to her hurriedly fixed her bangs while glancing at me over the partition.
“Why did he come…? I heard he almost collapsed at the auditorium earlier…”
“I don’t know… wow… he’s so arrogant…”
I pretended not to hear the employee’s whispers and went inside.
“No, I mean… if you’re going to reject it, reject it earlier. After the entrance ceremony is over, if you reject it like this, what are we supposed to do?”
In the inner room, Administrative Office Manager Choi Ga-yoon was massaging her temples while on a phone call.
Dark circles were deeply set under her eyes, and her shortly tied-up hair was disheveled.
She would be quite beautiful if she dressed up and groomed herself properly, but right now she was just a middle manager worn down by work.
It can’t be helped since she’s second-in-command after the department head in administration, responsible for supervising all office work.
“Ah, shit… this is really fucking… I should just quit…”
The office manager who roughly put down the phone muttered curses to herself.
“Manager. I suppose it’s a bit inappropriate to ask how you’re doing in this situation.”
The office manager raised her head at my greeting.
“Professor Gyo Su-hyeon…? What brings you here?”
The office manager who met my eyes asked worriedly.
“I heard you weren’t feeling well during the entrance ceremony, are you okay?”
“I’m fine. I just coughed a bit. But I have a favor to ask.”
At the mention of a favor, color returned to the office manager’s grey face.
“From me? What kind of favor?”
“I’d like to see this year’s freshman list. Would that be possible?”
“Of course it’s possible. Even if it weren’t, I’d have to grant Professor Gyo’s request. Just a moment.”
The office manager clicked her mouse and slightly turned the monitor towards me.
“Here it is.”
The school homepage logged in with the administration account.
There, the names of freshmen were listed in alphabetical order.
“Are you looking for someone specific?”
“Yes. May I take a look?”
The office manager readily got up from her chair and made way for me.
I grabbed the mouse and scrolled to the bottom, then started moving up.
Han Min-ha… Han Min-ha…
“Is it a child of someone you know who enrolled?”
“Well, no, not really.”
Han Min-ha… Let’s see…
“Or perhaps you’re trying to secure good students early for the upcoming advisor selection?”
“Haha.”
It’s annoying that she keeps talking.
Where was I looking?
“Since you came all this way, would you like some warm coffee?”
“No, thank you. I had some this morning.”
Ah, here it is. Han Min-ha.
Fortunately, she was among the freshmen.
I was about to click to enter her personal information when I stopped my finger.
It would be risky to view Han Min-ha’s personal information with the office manager standing behind watching the monitor.
I might end up in unnecessary gossip.
“Manager, on second thought, I think I’ll have that coffee. It would be a shame to leave right away after coming here after so long.”
“Would you?”
The office manager brightened up and left the room to make coffee.
As soon as she left, I took out my phone while clicking the mouse to enter Han Min-ha’s personal information.
After some loading, I could see the ID photo in the upper right corner of the personal information sheet.
Black hair, dark expression, wearing glasses.
So that child from earlier was Han Min-ha.
After confirming the face, I took a photo of the entire screen with my phone.
I’ll have to look at the rest in detail later.
Just as I exited the screen and stood up, the office manager came in with two paper cups of instant coffee.
“Did you find who you were looking for?”
“No, actually I thought I saw a familiar face at the auditorium earlier, so I checked, but it seems I was mistaken.”
“I see. Please come sit over here.”
The office manager invited me to sit at the round table used for guest reception and interviews.
Well, I should at least reciprocate this much since I was able to confirm Han Min-ha’s existence thanks to her.
Although I don’t really have the peace of mind to leisurely drink coffee and chat.
The office manager asked about my health once again and then vented about her recent work difficulties.
At first, she was just lamenting, but soon, overcome with emotion, she burst out with intense expressions like ‘those idiots in the management bureau who do nothing but send down official documents.’
I laughed and appropriately agreed with the office manager’s words.
“I’m sorry, Professor Gyo. I feel like I’ve only talked about myself.”
“It’s fine. Coming to the administration office, I should hear administration office stories.”
“Ho. Then if I go to your lab, can I hear your stories?”
“Well, haha.”
I avoided answering and laughed it off ambiguously.
“By the way, after the basic evaluation, we’ll soon start assigning academic advisors, are you considering Yu Hee-won?”
“Yu Hee-won? Well…”
“Although you haven’t taken on any Advisory Students until now, I think even you would be quite interested in Yu Hee-won.”
“I’m not sure yet. Anyway…”
I stood up, brushing off my seat.
“I enjoyed the coffee, Director. I’ll come again later.”
The administrative director walked me out of the administrative office.
“Take care of yourself, Professor!”
“Thank you.”
Once I was far enough from the administrative office, I took out my phone from my pocket.
That child named Han Min-ha.
Should I take a look at what kind of student she is?
