Don't Feed the Professor! - Chapter 3

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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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“How convenient.”
“I’m sorry?”
“You’ve lost your way and are in difficulty, and I happen to be without students—which puts me in a predicament as well. If we can help each other, wouldn’t that be ideal?”
Surely he wasn’t suggesting I’d have to sit through some lecture in exchange for escaping this place?
“I appreciate the offer, Professor. But there’s a small problem.”
“What is it?”
“Well, the truth is… I’m not actually a student here.”
Had I said something foolish? No—sooner or later, this would come out regardless.
In any case, this man—this professor—clearly wants something from me, so I’d better wait and see how this plays out.
Surprisingly, his reaction was unfazed.
“That can probably be worked out somehow. Let’s go to the Administrative Office and… ask them for a favor.”
“The Administrative Office?”
There’s an Administrative Office here?
“Follow me.”
And he turned and began walking. I stood dumbfounded for a moment before hurrying after him. If I was left alone in this mad corridor, there was no telling what might happen.
At the end of the corridor, we rounded a corner to the right, and a brass-colored elevator door appeared before us.
“My name is Mallo.”
The professor spoke abruptly while pressing the elevator call button.
“Thought you didn’t know.”
“Ah, I’m…”
I’d begun to answer reflexively, but closed my mouth.
Once you hear someone’s name, it’s only proper to offer yours in return. But for some reason, I felt an intense premonition that I shouldn’t speak my name aloud right now.
And this kind of premonition is usually right.
When our eyes met, I pulled my lips into a smile. After all, laughter is the universal language, isn’t it?
For a moment he studied me, then a faint smile appeared on his face as well.
“Besides, there are no other students here besides the students, after all.”
The elevator finally arrived.
The panel inside the elevator was covered with round buttons, but not a single one bore a number.
Mallo pressed one of them with a long finger. The doors closed and the elevator began to move.
The longest thirty seconds of my life passed, and the doors opened.
It looked like the lobby of some large building, with dark ceramic tiles on the floor and dimly lit indirect lighting that created an oddly fin-de-siècle atmosphere.
Directly across was a glass revolving door, and beyond it I could see outside, but it was already dark—the sun had set.
I glanced around, wondering if I might find some information.
Conveniently, there was a bulletin board nearby.

Below the panel, a single neatly printed sheet was posted.
[Gwangryun Comprehensive University Survival Rules Guide (Revised 20○○, Internal Training Use)]
1. Gwangryun Comprehensive University is classified as a Grade 1 Hazard Zone with extremely limited exploration opportunities. The locations discovered within the grounds to date are as follows.
-Lecture Building A
-Lecture Building B
-Student Cafeteria
-Student Center
-Student Dormitory
-Indoor Tennis Court
2. Personnel from The Organization who have completed Mandatory Education may access Lecture Building A, the Student Cafeteria, and the Student Dormitory.
Entry to Lecture Building B and the Student Center is permitted only to authorized personnel under specific circumstances and for restricted periods.
We urge you to minimize contact with the entities stationed in those locations.
Sufficient information has not been gathered regarding the Indoor Tennis Court.
Entry to those locations is likewise possible only for authorized personnel under specific circumstances, but no guidelines for subsequent conduct exist.
3. Regular patrols by The Organization’s Rescue Team B are conducted throughout Gwangryun Comprehensive University.
However, should you find yourself adrift in Lecture Building B, the Indoor Tennis Court, or some other undisclosed location, you cannot expect rescue.
Should you successfully survive and escape from a Restricted Zone, compensation will be provided to you or your designated heir.
However, under no circumstances does The Organization recommend exploration of those locations.
There are no known cases of anyone successfully escaping those locations on their own.
To emphasize once more: under any circumstances, prioritize your own survival above all else.
It was all information I already knew. It differed slightly from the rules I’d memorized, but was this perhaps the revised version?
Below that were colorful adhesive notes haphazardly stuck to the board.
Again: keep your notes inside the board, please.
And absolutely, absolutely, absolutely—don’t use this for sharing Survival Rules.
No one cares how much of a genius you think you are for finding something out.
This is Gwangryun Comprehensive University.
There are things that can read here!
I won’t stop you if you want to kill yourself in a way befitting your intelligence level, but don’t interfere with the exploration teams trying to survive one way or another, for heaven’s sake.
└So that’s why I took off your note?
“Aren’t you coming?”
“…Yes, I am!”
I followed Mallo up the stairs. The Administrative Office was on the second floor.
‘Really quite ordinary…’
I’d never been to a university, but surely the real Administrative Office looked much like this.
Just as I was raising my arm to knock, Mallo grasped the door handle and suddenly slid the sliding door open.
“Wh-what?!”
A young man who had been sitting alone at a metal desk eating a Sandwich jumped to his feet.
When he spotted Mallo, his face rapidly drained of color.
“Oh, shi—”
The man trailed off. Mayonnaise from the Sandwich he’d been eating splattered onto his black necktie, leaving a stain.
“Hello, Gwon Taehyeon.”
Mallo greeted the man as though nothing were amiss. The man Gwon Taehyeon’s eye twitched visibly.
“He-hello, Professor. But… what brings you here? I thought you weren’t scheduled to be in at this hour…”
The man hesitated as he asked. Mallo stepped slightly to the side. Now that he had a clear view, Gwon Taehyeon’s eyes widened.
Mallo spoke, looking down at me standing there vacuously.
“I just picked up a student.”
“Picked… up a student?”
“Like I mentioned before—if even one student wanted to listen, I said you could let me teach.”
The man’s eyes darted between me and Mallo. His expression still suggested he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
“So you’re saying, Professor… that you found a ‘student’ in the research wing?”
“Yes, wandering around in the Corridor.”
Technically true, but it felt odd. Picked up like I was some lost dog wandering a Corridor.
“I see…”
The man pressed his forehead with his hand.
A moment of silence fell. As I was deciding whether I should say something, the man let out a barely audible sigh and beckoned to me.
“Come over here.”
It was rude, if I’m being honest. But this didn’t seem like the moment to take issue with courtesy.
Judging by his reaction to Mallo, this man is clearly human. If he’s stationed in a place like this, he’s almost certainly affiliated with The Organization.
If anything, it would be wiser to trust him over Mallo.
As I approached his desk, he tapped his notebook, which lay open on the surface, with a soft rhythm.
Don’t lower your head—read with just your eyes.
I lowered my gaze and read through the memo. Meanwhile, the man made a show of rummaging through a bookshelf, as if searching for something.
Rescue Team B team leader Gwon Taehyeon. Are you currently experiencing damage or distortion to your sense of self, or are you under physical or psychological threat?
If so, please nod slightly.
Damage to my sense of self? Threat to my existence?
I glanced sideways at Mallo, who still stood near the door watching me, then shook my head slightly.
“Um, Professor.”
After confirming my response, Team Leader Gwon Taehyeon called out to Mallo.
“Would it be alright if I spoke with this student first? I’ll contact your Research Office as soon as we’re done.”
Mallo’s head tilted slightly to one side. He stared at us intently, then opened his mouth.
“…What would you two have to talk about alone?”
Perhaps it was my imagination, but when he spoke, I could have sworn I heard a low hissing sound—shh. The sudden shift in atmosphere made my skin prickle with goosebumps.
“Isn’t that something I shouldn’t hear?”
“No, it’s just…”
“They’re my student, aren’t they?”
Somehow the question sounded threatening.
I turned to look at Team Leader Gwon Taehyeon. His face had turned an ashen gray.
I let out a small, artificial cough.
“Isn’t it a bit premature to call me the Professor’s student?”
At my words, Mallo’s brow furrowed slightly, and Team Leader Gwon Taehyeon flinched, taking a step back.
I continued.
“Just because the Professor picked me up doesn’t make me theirs, does it?”
After a moment of silence, Mallo spoke again.
“…Doesn’t it?”

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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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