Don't Feed the Professor! - Chapter 31

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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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“The professors wanted me to convey their sincere apologies. They have no intention whatsoever of hurting your feelings, Amelie…….”
Still holding her sleeve to her nose, the Student Council President continued.
“But that’s not the point right now. If it was going to be like this anyway, why did I have to go through all that trouble……!”
“We’ll exchange them for you.”
“Pardon?”
“I’m saying we’ll convert your Academic Credits so you can use them as currency.”
Convert credits into money? At that moment, Momo standing beside me seized my hand and pulled.
“Say yes!”
Momo whispered with wide eyes.
“What, what do you mean?!”
“Just say yes no matter what! Five credits is worth at least three mid-sized cars!”
Three cars?! My eyes snapped open involuntarily.
Wait, hold on. I quickly suppressed the smile that had started creeping across my face.
Kindness of this sort doesn’t just fall into one’s lap for free. In reality or in the Castle, that’s simply how the world works.
“Then, what about Graduation?”
Momo muttered something beside me, but I looked directly at the Student Council President and asked again.
“The Gold Coins I just earned are symbolic credits for Course Registration, after all. If you attend lectures and score above a certain level, you can earn actual Academic Credits.”
It would be my role as a university student named Amelie to accumulate credits and graduate.
If my escape condition was Graduation, then the longer I delayed acquiring credits, the longer I’d have to stay in the Castle.
“The longer I remain in the Castle, the more precarious my life becomes. Which means these five credits are essentially worth my life. But you said how many cars?”
The Student Council President’s eyebrows rose slightly.
“So, what is it you want?”
Her tone was as cold as ever, but I could tell she was quite intrigued by what I’d said.
“Well. Shouldn’t the party asking for understanding present their compensation offer first? That’s only common sense.”
Momo gasped, holding her breath.
But I know now. The Castle doesn’t give me a script for the role it demands.
Except for a few prohibitions, there are no set rules for how a Gwangryun University student should behave.
And in a world where no one knows the answers, the person with the louder voice—or rather, the more convincing argument—wins.
In other words, unwavering, consistent insistence is the surefire strategy.
“Hmm…….”
The Student Council President made a sound through her nose while covering her mouth with her sleeve. Whether it was my imagination or not, the corners of her mouth seemed to twist slightly upward.
“This will require discussion.”
“Discussion?”
“We’ll contact you after a student council meeting.”
I nodded absently. And the President simply turned and disappeared into the Dark Forest Path.
“……You’re not kidding around. I couldn’t even look at her.”
Momo muttered, utterly dazed.
Perhaps. But right now, what frightened me more than the Student Council President or any of these strange beings was humanity itself.
Because I knew all too well how cruel a cornered human could become.
Just then, my phone rang. The caller was Mallo.
When I looked at Momo, she quickly caught on and ran down the stairs, saying she’d go keep watch on Russell.
“……Hello?”
While Russell and Momo bickered over something, I answered the phone in a low voice.
-Just checking, but were you planning to attend other professors’ lectures too?
What kind of absurd question was this.
“Of course? Otherwise, why would I have worked so hard on Course Registration?”
-For fun?
Mallo countered as if it were obvious, and I was left with nothing to say.
-Well, anyway, that works out. From now on, don’t worry about anything else and just attend my lectures, alright?
Mallo hummed.
“Huh……. No, but then how do I graduate!”
-Do you really have to graduate?
“Of course I do!”
At his teasingly drawn-out words, I was genuinely irritated.
When I came to my senses, I realized that both Momo and Russell were staring at me with startled eyes.
My face flushed red immediately. Not from embarrassment, but from shock at my own behavior.
That won’t do. No matter how carelessly I act, Mallo is—well, anyway. If I got too comfortable with him, there’s no telling what might happen.
“I’m sorry, Professor. What I meant was……, um, it’d be such a waste if I earned all these credits and couldn’t use them…….”
-So you need the credits? Because you can’t show academic performance without attending lectures.
“Yes……, that’s right.”
-I’ll give them to you.
“What do you……?”
-I’ll give you an A plus ten or so. Then it’ll work out.
So that’s how it…….
“……It will?”
-It will, trust me.
One thing was certain: we both know nothing.
Yet at the same time, I felt something oddly bittersweet. Objectively speaking, I was in quite a peculiar situation right now.
Standing in front of an inexplicable Shrine in a dark Open Clearing, caught in a light drizzle. Alongside two people who had once tried to kill me.
And yet, having this absurd conversation with Mallo, something about it made my heart feel entirely loose.
As if we’d once had such a conversation together, long ago…….
“Um, Professor.”
-Yeah.
He answered in his usual languid voice. I hesitated and merely cleared my throat.
“Never mind. It’s nothing.”
I didn’t want to say anything embarrassing like thanks in front of others.
And sure enough, Mallo let his words trail off and laughed softly.
-Don’t cry too much.
“What? I’m not crying…….”
Click. But the call had already ended.
The rain had stopped at some point.
* * *
Like Mallo said, I must have been intoxicated by adrenaline. The moment I returned to the Dormitory, I barely changed clothes before collapsing onto my bed.
I fell asleep as if passing out, and I dreamed a long dream. It was a hazy dream, like an old memory.
In the dream, I was about nine years old, and I was walking down a narrow alley holding the hand of someone whose face I couldn’t see.
―This is something wonderful.
The stranger said, leading my hand.
―This is something all of us should regard as an honor. So you shouldn’t make a fuss—just behave…….
I stopped walking. For some reason, I was suddenly terrified.
The stranger turned to look at me. She yanked my arm forcefully as if to hurry me along, but I resisted, digging in my heels.
“I don’t want to go.”
―What?
“I’m scared. I don’t want to go.”
Don’t cry. If you cry while speaking, no one will listen to you.
Nine-year-old me clenched my teeth.
Ha, haha, the stranger laughed.
She shook my arm so hard my joints rattled, then suddenly stopped.
The stranger knew my stubbornness. And above all, the stranger couldn’t hurt me.
Because I was…….
I was……?
―Oh, I see.
The stranger released my wrist. Then she dug through the pockets of her worn jacket and pulled out something small and glittering.
―I brought this to give you, as it happens. Look, you always wanted to have it.
That glittering thing was…… a bracelet. A toy bracelet made of transparent beads woven together, shining in the sunlight.
I stretched out my hand as if enchanted.
“A Rainbow Bracelet?”
―Yes. It’s exactly the same as the one they advertise on television, right? Hmm?
It wasn’t the same at all. It didn’t even look similar. But that was…… that was…….
‘Wait, a bracelet?’
“Gasp.”
My eyes snapped open in the darkness.
“Huff, huff…….”
My entire body trembled finely, jolted awake from such a deep sleep.
I sat up in bed. Habitually, I swept my arm looking for water, but there was nothing to grab.
That was strange. My small room had such a narrow layout that a simple table was right against the bed.
Groping through the darkness, I moved forward.
I didn’t notice that the sensation under my bare feet was a carpet rather than the usual vinyl flooring, or that the surroundings, which had always been noisy with sirens and shouting, were now silent…….
And then, click.
‘A door……?’
Was there a door in this place? Did my small room have a door handle that turned this smoothly?
And as I opened it with a creak, what lay beyond was a different world.

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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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