Don't Feed the Professor! - Chapter 1

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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“Bizarre Entities love to mimic humans.
The problem is that what Bizarre Entities think of as ‘human’ differs significantly from what humans actually are.
For a simple example, they cannot understand the abstract expressions humans commonly use.
There was once an Agent who won a Bizarre Entity’s favor and took on the role of its companion. He performed his role well and survived nearly six months in the Fortress.
But one day, the Agent carelessly remarked, ‘Our relationship depends on what I choose to do.’
After that statement, the Bizarre Entity demanded that the Agent ‘choose to do’ something with his heart.
The Bizarre Entity had confused ‘heart’ with the human mind and firmly believed that the human heart was located in the nerve bundle between the cerebellum and the brainstem.
The Agent tried to make it understand that this was a misunderstanding, but to no avail.
In the end, using an ice cream scoop, the Agent shattered his own
[REDACTED]
and consumed portions of
[REDACTED]
and
[REDACTED]
before he could finally be “freed.”
The one consolation is that after that incident, knowledge spread among Bizarre Entities that the human heart is not an actual organ but an abstract concept.
But it bears repeating: one must never accept the goodwill of Bizarre Entities as genuine goodwill.
—20○○ Year, ○ Month, ○○ Day, Amelie B.”
* * *
“Hey, who actually said anything about dying? They said there’s a way to come back to life. And all we have to do is bring back one person we’re looking for when we return, right? Man, how simple is that?”
“I know, right? If we succeed, we get our debts wiped clean, plus a fat reward on top. Damn, if the conditions were right, I’d do it myself.”
“You serious? So you’ll go in next month?”
“Oh, no way, I was just joking. I’ve heard the stories and seen things. I’m not crazy enough to walk into that place.”
The two men snickered. I clenched my teeth. The scarred man watched me kneeling on the floor and clicked his tongue.
“You should’ve just lived a quiet life. Looking all clean and innocent like that—where’d you get the nerve to steal that much money?”
“I… didn’t do anything wrong……”
Jaw clenched, I forced the words out. Blood streamed from my nose, making it hard to breathe.
But I felt wronged.
Yes, life has a way of throwing all kinds of shit at you. But I didn’t ask for any of it.
Is it my fault my parents fell into a cult? That they donated their entire fortune and then pinned the blame on me?
I glared at the man hard enough to kill, but realistically, there was nothing I could do. Seeing my helplessness, they grinned wickedly and laughed.
“You’ve got spirit. Maybe this time we’ll actually pull it off.”
Tap-tap. The man flicked a Syringe with his filthy fingernail. The other man grabbed me roughly and hauled me to my feet.
And then.
“It’ll sting a little.”
A splitting headache came with an eerie ringing in my ears.
“Ugh……”
Trembling face-down on the cold floor, I watched as the man threw something heavy in front of me.
A book.
“Cram as much as you can into your head before the drug kicks in.”
I forgot the headache and reached out, gripping it hard. It was an old, thick book. The Fortress Entry General Manual—the very book I’d desperately tried to get my hands on countless times while locked up by these bastards.
With trembling hands, I turned the cover and opened to whatever page came up. Bold printed text swam into focus through my blurred vision.
“Chapter 6, Gwangyun General University Survival Rules Guide……”
“What, you’re actually reading that?! Such a diligent girl!”
The men mocked me, but I ignored them and focused on the words.
The Fortress, the city of gods.
On the boundary between reality and something else, there dwell incomprehensible beings commonly called Bizarre Entities.
There is only one way for an ordinary human to formally enter this place. And only Agents of The Agency know that method.
All other humans who have entered the Fortress came as accidental Strays.
It is nearly impossible for Strays to escape on their own, but if someone does manage to return alive, they can receive substantial compensation simply by providing the escape method.
This is why occasionally people deliberately create “accidents” and stake other people’s lives on it.
The most vicious version of such accidents is my case—I am now being set up to be murdered under very specific conditions in a very specific place.
They said only one in a hundred people succeed in entering this way. Statistically, I’m likely heading for a miserable death as it is.
But if there was even a slim possibility—if I did fall into the world of Bizarre Entities—my best chance was to memorize every single word of that manual.
And this book in my hands was the only survival rules manual these thugs had smuggled out of The Agency.
0. Gwangyun General University was decommissioned in 199○. Only authorized Agents are permitted access to the grounds. Civilian entry is strictly forbidden.
All information accessible at that location may cause serious cognitive damage or distortion.
The Agency bears no responsibility for any harm incurred from failure to follow instructions and warns that enhanced penalties may apply.
I don’t need warnings. Tell me how to survive, not what could kill me—!
I flipped through the pages frantically.
To be honest, I have a pretty good memory.
I’m not necessarily smarter than others, but having parents trapped in a cult forced me to memorize scripture from childhood, so I became seasoned at committing things to memory.
The only survival rules manual valid in the Fortress is the one made by The Agency.
These loan sharks almost certainly obtained this manual through illegal channels, so it’s bound to be seriously corrupted and contaminated in places.
But that’s fine.
To survive, I had to “cram” every scrap of information I could see into my head, just as the loan shark said.
That was when,
[Initiating entry. Prepare yourself.]
An unfamiliar, cold voice echoed inside my mind. My vision trembled as if I’d been struck hard on the back of the head.
[Entry in progress……]
Don’t tell me.
I clutched the manual tight. The letters no longer registered in my eyes.
[System access commencing……. Locating nearest Contact Point……]
And then,
[Welcome back, Amelie!]
I lost consciousness. When I opened my eyes again, my hands were empty and I stood alone in a narrow, dark corridor.
“What… was that just now?”
My voice echoed hollowly through the corridor. A green light flickered overhead.
I looked cautiously around. There were no windows, and the distinctive musty smell suggested the basement of an old building.
At the end of the corridor stood a door, with the passage bending right beyond it.
A nameplate was attached to the door. I narrowed my eyes and tried to read what was written on it.
Beep.
“…What?”
A warning-like ringing pierced my ears, and my nasal passages burned.
I quickly looked away into empty space. Instantly, a thin stream of blood trickled from my nose.
‘…Just reading the letters does this?’
I wiped my nose with my sleeve and thought.
Somehow, I’d managed to enter the Fortress successfully. Though I wasn’t sure whether to count that as a blessing.
The exact size of the Fortress isn’t known, but from what I’d overheard from the loan sharks, I guessed it was roughly the size of an old district in a small city.
So how could I possibly guess where I’d landed in such a vast place?
I carefully went through the manual in my memory. The only—actually, the last—location I’d memorized was ‘Gwangyun General University.’
The Bizarre Entities that appear there are relatively non-threatening to humans. What’s truly dangerous is what’s never been explored, the ‘Higher-Rank Entities’ lurking deep in campus.
And according to the manual’s vague description, Higher-Rank Entities were……
Click.
The sudden sound cut off my train of thought.
It was definitely the sound of a doorknob turning.
Creak.
My body went rigid against my will. I was trapped in a narrow basement corridor with nowhere to run. And there was only one door—the one at the end of the hall.
Something was now emerging from the very room that had caused my nose to bleed just from reading its nameplate.
As I stood tense and indecisive, the door swung open with a thud.
And what came out was……
“…What?”
A tall man with disheveled blonde hair and thick glasses opened the door and stepped out.
He wore loose sweatpants and a white lab coat draped over them, carrying a large Tumbler in one hand.
The man stared at me silently, taken aback.
A brief silence fell.
Then the man spoke to me in a deep, gravelly voice, as if waking from a long sleep.
“Are you an undergraduate?”
* * *
[Fortress Entry General Manual (Revised 20○○, External Agent Distribution Edition)]
1. The supernatural entities dwelling in the Fortress are generally neutral toward humans.
What you must understand is that this fact does not always work to your advantage.
Their common sense differs significantly from human common sense, and any kindness they extend can cause potentially fatal injury to the human body.
2. Among the supernatural entities dwelling in the Fortress, those with intelligence equal to or superior to humans generally exhibit a tendency to mimic human behavior.
You must be careful that even if their Mimicry appears unnatural, you must not point it out or allow it to be suspected that you have noticed
them.
If the entity suspects you doubt its identity, said entity will
them.
3. No manual exists for proper handling if you encounter a Higher-Rank Entity.
If you manage to survive contact with a Higher-Rank Entity and return alive, compensation will be provided to you or a designated heir.
However, under no circumstances will The Agency
them.
Again, under no circumstances will your return be
them.
Do your utmost to avoid meeting them
them.
meet me.
Document corruption detected. Revision required.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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