Don't Feed the Professor! - Chapter 40

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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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[Riverside Cinema Survival Manual for Stranded Individuals (Revised ○○○○, General Distribution)]
Information provided by The Agency.
You have currently entered this Dimension—hereafter referred to as “Riverside Cinema”—through an abnormal route.
This manual has been prepared to increase the likelihood of safe recovery for individuals who have become stranded through unforeseen accidents.
The Agency is doing its utmost to rescue Stranded Individuals and regularly dispatches personnel to search for Survivors.
This document does not guarantee your complete recovery; its purpose is to maintain minimum vital functions until rescue arrives.
Please be sure to familiarize yourself with the following guidelines.
1. Do not enter the screening rooms.
This is the fundamental rule.
No location within Riverside Cinema is safer than the lobby, and this remains true even if Anomalous Phenomena occur.
Anomalous Phenomena include fires, loud noises, foul odors, flickering lights, and shadows.
However, if you hear the sound of film rolling accompanied by the laughter of a young woman, enter the screening room immediately.
2. Do not sit in Row J.
Should you find yourself forced to enter a screening room, you must sit in the designated seat. You should find a ticket printed with a seat number in your pocket or bag.
If your seat is designated as Row J, please return to the ticket counter and request a different seat.
Sitting in Row J is physically impossible, and if you are not seated in your designated seat after the screening begins, you may suffer irreversible physical and mental damage.
3. Do not look at the screen.
The Agency is always doing its best for your recovery.
However, if rescue does not arrive before the screening begins, please try not to watch the “film” being projected on the screen.
Refusing to watch may not be easy, but please focus your thoughts elsewhere or distract yourself as much as possible.
All materials shown are fiction, and any personal losses depicted in them, or any terrible harms inflicted on you or your loved ones are merely malicious perceptual errors.
Avert your gaze as much as possible and do not trust what you see.
Finally, if a film entitled “Evening Glow” begins to show in the screening room, unfortunately this manual can no longer help you.
Please organize your personal effects and keep them under your seat. The Agency will do its best to have them delivered to your family.
Thank you for your cooperation.
* * *
“Tired?”
“Ah, I’ve been having so many dreams lately…….”
I covered my mouth and yawned.
I couldn’t remember what the dreams were about, but lately they were keeping me awake.
“You’re sleepy but you wanted to come to a cinema?”
Mallo spoke while peering through the hazy glass of the ticket counter. Today he wore a smooth ivory shirt and charcoal slacks.
Despite the utterly ordinary outfit, his sharp features stood out so much that I couldn’t help but steal glances at him.
‘It feels almost like a date…….’
No, no. I caught myself and quickly shook my head.
What nonsense. I’d never even been on a date in my life…….
“We didn’t come here just to watch a movie, anyway. Since people gather in places like this, I thought we might find some clues about the missing person.”
Today was one of my lectures with Mallo. But instead of our usual venue, we’d headed to Downtown Castle.
This place, which Survivors commonly called “Downtown,” was a small, circular district that included Riverside Cinema.
Centered around Riverside Shopping Mall, it had underground shopping arcades, restaurants, and a fitness center, though time seemed to flow strangely here.
Two-thirds of each day was night, and the rest was early dawn; daylight appeared only briefly at noon.
So now, in the afternoon, it was midnight here.
“The Agency frequently sends rescue teams to the downtown center area. The recovery rate tends to be relatively higher there.”
Because resources were easier to find, Survivors who stayed longer eventually gathered in downtown.
Of course, the probability of someone who entered by illegal means actually ending up in Downtown Castle was……extremely low.
Even so, if the young master I’m searching for is still alive, wouldn’t he have passed through downtown at least once?
At the very least, I might be able to gather information. Long-term residents spread rumors quickly, they say.
“Hmm……, you have a point. But there’s one thing you should know.”
Mallo opened the ticket window with a click.
“The more you encounter humans, the more sophisticated Human Imitations become.”
He was right.
Even Momo and Russell rarely ventured to the downtown area, they’d said.
〈You can’t tell from your perspective, but honestly, we’re pretty lucky among the Survivors. Gwangyun University is quite lenient with its students. But downtown? We’re nothing there.〉
“That’s why I came with you, Professor.”
I snatched the bundle of tickets from Mallo’s hands. I tapped the warning posted on the glass.
Do not take unpaid tickets.
I placed the tickets back where they belonged.
On the small table sat colorful tickets along with a round stamp and a tiny bell that made a ding sound when pressed.
I knew nothing of Riverside Cinema’s rules. But supposedly common sense was universal.
So it was right not to take things I hadn’t paid for. Mallo watched me fuss about as he leaned against the glass window.
“I understand what you mean, but…….”
Long fingers tapped against the window, stealing my attention again. As I lifted my head at the odd breath,
“Oh!”
The bundle of tickets was already back in Mallo’s grasp. I tried to snatch them quickly, but it was too late.
Rustle, rustle, rustle…….
Colorful paper tickets scattered in all directions.
“What—what are you—!”
“Ha, that’ll be a pain to clean up, won’t it.”
“Professor!”
That was when the screening room door opened.
Click, click, click—the sound of an old projector whirring. And some indescribable, very old scent…….
“Let’s go in.”
“What? But…….”
“We’ve come this far; we can watch a film together.”
“Um…….”
That was true, I suppose.
I hadn’t watched a film in what felt like forever. Besides, I wouldn’t have dared enter a dark screening room without Mallo’s company.
“Watch your step.”
Mallo extended his arm. After a moment’s hesitation, I lightly grasped his sleeve.
“But…… do you know what film this is?”
Crinkle.
A green movie ticket appeared in my hand.
Evening Glow
The screening room was dark, and needless to say, there were no other patrons.
I checked the seat number printed on the ticket.
“It says Row D, seats 3 and 4. That’s the corner, way in the back. Should I exchange the tickets?”
“It’s fine.”
Mallo led me not to the designated seats, but to the center of the theater—the best seats in the house.
I looked around.
‘Seems like…… there aren’t any other patrons after all…….’
Once we sat down, the screening began immediately.
It was a period drama set in some ancient city. There were no subtitles, and the actors spoke in a language I’d never heard before.
The strange thing was that I understood every word perfectly.
“Um…… Professor…… why do I understand this? I’ve never studied Hungarian in my life…….”
And how did I even know it was Hungarian?
“You learned it in last week’s lecture.”
“……What?”
Mallo leaned toward me and whispered.
“You loved it. You kept asking to practice it again, which was quite the problem.”
“…….”
I looked at him in disbelief, and Mallo tilted his head as if asking why I was confused.

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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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