Don't Feed the Professor! - Chapter 37

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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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I searched my memory.
“Early twenties, male. Seems like he’s from a fairly prominent family.”
“Who are you talking about?”
“Oh!”
I spun around in surprise, only to find Marlo had drawn close behind me, looking down with a smile.
“Startled you?”
His blond hair scattered in the spring breeze. Cherry blossoms fell from the clear sky, and the sunlight was blinding.
‘It’s spring……’
I’d been vacant for a moment, but I quickly came to my senses and cried out.
“Of c-course I was! When did you even arrive?”
“From ‘early twenties, male,’ I caught the rest.”
So he’d heard it all.
“So, who is this person you’re looking for?”
“Well……, that’s all I know right now. I don’t even have a name, just that they haven’t been in the Castle very long……”
Come to think of it, the Loan Shark Organization had said that whoever holds the clue would reach out first. Once I successfully entered the Castle, that is.
I’d been too focused on surviving to think about it, but by now surely they were also searching for my whereabouts……
It was then that the coffee machine let out a sharp screech.
“Russell?!”
I quickly hurried into the shop and knocked the cup from Russell’s hand.
The Steam Kettle clattered as it slipped from his fingers and struck the floor.
Russell seemed to come to then, clutching his reddened hands. Fortunately, the burn didn’t appear to be severe.
Now I understood what had happened. Russell had slipped into a Trance State while checking the milk temperature.
Just like……, just like when Kay encountered Marlo in the Maze.
And Marlo, surprisingly, looked troubled.
“I……”
“……Your Cappuccino is ready.”
Click.
Russell set the Tumbler holding the Cappuccino on the counter. When our eyes met, he shook his head slightly but firmly.
Don’t say anything, he seemed to say.
After we’d left the Academic Building, Marlo spoke.
“I didn’t mean to.”
“I’m sorry?”
“I wasn’t trying to be cruel. I just……, I didn’t see him there. He was outside my awareness.”
He wasn’t trying to be cruel? Why was he explaining himself to me?
“I……, well……”
“You’re not angry, are you?”
Angry?
“Why would I be……”
Then, with a quick motion, he reached his right hand toward my face. I flinched, and his fingertips brushed my forehead.
“What are you……”
The next moment, a lilac petal drifted down between his fingers.
“It was stuck in your eyebrow.”
“……You could have just said so.”
I mumbled, suddenly embarrassed.
“But you know, lilacs actually bloom in May.”
“I’m sorry?”
“If it’s early spring now, these petals falling is a bit premature. But they’re beautiful, aren’t they?”
Marlo spoke in a low voice, as though sharing a secret. The moment our eyes met, my breath caught.
“They……are beautiful. But wouldn’t it be fine to let them fall now?”
“Why?”
“Well……, my friend actually works in the Dormitory, and apparently there are so many petals that cleaning has become difficult.”
Marlo made an odd sound.
“I didn’t know you’d already made friends.”
I hesitated. I’d only said that for convenience—I didn’t truly consider Bibina and Momo my friends.
In the real world, I’d never had anything like friends. So how could I trust two complete strangers I’d met in the Castle just weeks ago?
‘They probably feel the same way about me. It does prick my conscience a bit……’
“What’s with that expression?”
“What?”
I looked up in surprise. Marlo was gazing down at me, his eyes narrowing.
“You look quite upset. Over that ‘friend’?”
“What? No, that’s not it so much as……, they’ve helped me considerably. They’ve taught me things, shown me around the Castle……”
“Good friends indeed. Still, my lectures aren’t much help in real life, are they?”
“Well……, haha, more than that, I forget everything the moment I leave the classroom. Besides, like I mentioned earlier, there’s someone I need to find in the Castle.”
“Right, so you did……. But tell me, once you find that person, what then?”
“Then……, I’ll have to leave this place.”
I’d answered carelessly, then froze.
Had I made a mistake? Should I really have said that so openly—that I want to leave the Castle?
‘In front of a professor?’
“Lee Yu-ri.”
I lifted my gaze with a start. Marlo was still smiling, but the air around us had changed.
‘What is……?’
The air felt heavy. No—thick. My chest grew tight.
“You want to leave this place?”
“……”
I tensed completely, swallowing hard.
“So that’s what you’re saying……”
I still couldn’t bring myself to answer.
‘Come to think of it……’
I still hadn’t asked him how he knew my name.
Part of it was fear of what answer I’d receive, but really—how significant was it that he knew my real name?
Without saying a word, Marlo surely knew far more than I realized. About the Castle. About me.
Marlo lowered his gaze.
“Well……, I suppose so. I did think as much. But to say it so readily without hesitation—that’s a bit…… disappointing.”
‘Disappointing’?
He looked down at my startled face and asked.
“Isn’t it fun anymore?”
“What?”
“Being with me. You’re already tired of it?”
“I……”
As I stood there dazed, Marlo reached out. With a delicate thumb, he lightly touched the tip of my chin.
He whispered in a voice that was gentle, almost sweet.
“You said you really wanted to attend my lectures. I still have so much to teach you.”
“That’s……”
“Mm?”
I stood vacant, staring at nothing but his lips, until I suddenly snapped back to reality.
Dangerous.
I don’t know why, but this is dangerous.
“Field Practice!”
I blurted it out. Marlo’s eyes widened.
“T-true learning happens outside the classroom, doesn’t it? So……, so……”
A brief silence fell.
Marlo quickly brought his hand to his mouth.
“……?”
Between his long fingers, I saw him laughing.
He laughed while avoiding my gaze, as though somewhat flustered.
“Professor.”
“……”
“Your face is turning quite red……”
“Let’s go.”
“What?”
“Field Practice. Good thinking.”
He spoke as though praising a puppy for being clever, then turned and disappeared toward the Student Center before I could say anything in return.
‘Did I……, dodge that safely?’
I stood there dumbfounded for a long time, watching Marlo’s retreating figure through the falling petals.
* * *
Kang Do-jin, or rather the Director of Secretariat, had always despised the smell that rose from the Harbor.
A Logistics Warehouse used as a Loan Shark hideout, no less—precisely the sort of place he found most repugnant.
The uneducated. The rude, the vulgar. As if voicing his thoughts, the scarred man who served as their leader greeted him with excessive deference.
“Ah, Director Kang! Ha, how fortunate. The Chairman, I trust, remains in good health?”
“Indeed. But more importantly—is the woman here?”
“Of course! I shall escort you at once!”
Kang Do-jin followed the man down the stairs leading underground. With each step deeper, a smell he knew too well grew stronger.
A smell far from pleasant.
The smell of violence.
“We tried to bring both parents, but as it turns out, the father is locked away in Hongsan Prison. We’ve managed to penetrate everywhere else, but that place has a superintendent who’s quite difficult……”
“Prison? What was the charge?”
“Fraud, they say. A petty criminal, really. I’ve heard the father’s mind is also a bit unstable. Or perhaps he’s playing games for parole purposes—who knows.”
‘The father too’—did that mean the mother was also not entirely stable?
Learning this only now, after coming all the way here, Kang Do-jin clicked his tongue.
The man flinched, interpreting it as criticism, and began offering excuses.
“But even if we’d brought them, it would have been of little use. Apparently the daughter severed ties with both of them long before she disappeared.”
“Friends? Colleagues?”
“There appear to have been no social connections whatsoever. Apparently both parents borrowed heavily from various sources besides us. Once they fell behind on payments, the pursuit grew relentless—they couldn’t stay in one place.”
“And the reason they borrowed such sums was……, a religion, you say?”
“Yes, sir. Some sort of fraudulent religion or cult. It seems to have collapsed recently. But the debts remain.”
A pitiful case, Kang Do-jin mused.
Still, according to the Chairman, the woman hadn’t fallen into vice and had been steadily repaying debts—worthy of commendation, one might say.
Not that it mattered, given they were here to kidnap her parents and extract her location.
Shortly after, Kang Do-jin was led before a door. Inside the narrow room with yellowed flooring, a woman of middle years sat huddled in the corner.
She wore a tattered jacket unsuited to the season, and her socks were torn.
Her unkempt hair bore considerable gray, making her appear far older than the information they’d received suggested.
“Kim Hyun-ju?”
As he called the name from the Tablet, the woman’s body trembled slightly.

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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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