The Graduate Student Wants to Assassinate the Professor - Chapter 56

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

Chapter 56

“Now then, this professor is busy. Come forward one at a time.”
The students exchanged nervous glances, each reluctant to be the first sacrifice. Their eyes settled on Isto, the most exemplary student and Department Student Council representative, leaving her no choice but to step forward first.
Leoryna retrieved a Poriport from the cage and released it. The freed creature looked around before spotting Isto in the center of the Practice Grounds and charged toward her.
“Squeak! Squeak!”
The moment Poriport attempted to cast magic, Isto raised her staff and dispelled it with a counter-spell.
As her own magic unraveled, Poriport hesitated before rushing at Isto, then began casting again. But Isto successfully dispelled this attempt as well, and though Poriport grew frustrated and hastily unleashed another spell, she calmly neutralized that too.
“Ooh, truly worthy of the Department Student Council.”
As the students and Leoryna applauded, Isto blushed and made her way back through the spectators huddled in the Spectator Seating.
Khalid, who had recaptured Poriport, gave the students a thumbs up and spoke.
“See? Easy, right?”
Emboldened by Isto’s success, the students nodded. But Leoryna found herself drowning in the catastrophe that followed.
A student too frightened to even attempt dispelling the spell was blinded by a flash of light; another successfully countered Poriport’s magic twice but was caught off guard when it suddenly switched spells on the third attempt, taking a blow to the head and losing consciousness; yet another failed to block Poriport’s sonic magic, rupturing the eardrums of all the spectators watching….
Well, listing it all out made the situation sound dire, but most injuries fell within the range of what magic could repair, so it wasn’t truly catastrophic damage.
Khalid, meanwhile, was having the time of his life handing out retake verdicts to the students.
“Will the retake be conducted the same way?”
“Similar enough. You’ll need to disarm an explosive magical device within the time limit.”
That obsession with explosions! Why does he love explosions so much?!
Seventy percent of the students who received retake verdicts wanted to cry.
Leoryna felt the same way.
‘If they take the retake, then again! I’ll have to clean up the mess!’

* * *

After the exam ended, Leoryna returned home and vented her frustration by hammering nails into wooden planks.
“Could you make the enclosure a bit more spacious?” Pongko asked.
Pongko munched on weeds from Leoryna’s small garden while offering his unsolicited opinion, but Leoryna was too focused on nailing together Pongko’s enclosure to hear him—her mind consumed with rage toward Khalid.
“I!”
Bang!
“That bastard!”
Bang!
“I should kill him faster!”
Bang!
“This!”
Bang!
“Because I can’t kill him!”
Bang!
“This is infuriating!”
Bang!
Pongko ground his teeth and dared not make further requests of Leoryna, who hammered with lethal intensity.
Still, Leoryna was constructing Pongko’s enclosure with genuine care and thoughtful design.
Once complete, the enclosure occupied one corner of Leoryna’s living room—one side lined with hay, the opposite side furnished with a toilet. She’d provided a cozy shelter to keep him warm and even hung a hammock. She’d also added apple tree branches for him to gnaw on.
The moment Pongko moved in, he explored every corner before settling contentedly into the hammock. Leoryna offered him dried carrots and spoke awkwardly.
“Do you like it?”
“Yes! I love it.”
When Pongko giggled, Leoryna found herself laughing along.
Perhaps because he was now her familiar, Pongko felt more endearing than before, and I wanted to treat him well. I didn’t want to harm Pongko. Even if he transformed back into a demonic beast.
Just a rabbit, as someone said. Why was this feeling emerging? Even if he became a nuisance later, I’d have to kill him.
For the first time, Leoryna found human emotions to be a burden.
Until now, during my assignments, I’d never needed to understand my targets. They were simply bad people—their circumstances were irrelevant.
‘If they have circumstances, so what? What does it change? If they deserve death, they deserve death.’
There were people in this world whose death benefited others.
And according to Pope Beronas, Khalid was one such person. But…
“Ah… I’ve gotten too involved…”
At Leoryna’s unconscious murmur, Pongko tilted his head and asked.
“Too involved in what?”
“The profound inner world of my mind alone. You wouldn’t understand.”
“I’m not sure what it is, but if something bothers Leoryna, just handle it moderately. That way you’ll experience less stress.”
“Yeah, that sounds right.”
Handle it moderately. Moderately. Not too earnestly.
Maintain appropriate distance, respond only as much as necessary.
Toward Khalid!
Leoryna added a few more dried apple slices to Pongko’s food bowl, then retrieved paper and a fountain pen.
“Alright, tomorrow I’ll try feeding him the elixir again.”
I sat in my Research Laboratory, meticulously listing the varieties of rare potions stored in my Cabinet, my mind churning with possibilities.
“I’m sorry, students. I should have killed that bastard faster before you took your exams… but the damn thing just wouldn’t die… sob…”
I indulged in self-pity, squeezing out tears one by one.
First, the potions designed merely to cause illness had failed to kill Khalid. The Pharmacy Department simply didn’t manufacture lethal toxins.
Still, I’d experimented with a few others beyond the first one I’d tried, but they only caused mild symptoms lasting about an hour. Khalid had simply attributed it to fatigue.
If I kept administering different potions in succession, he’d grow suspicious of his body’s constant malfunctions.
As a result, the rare potions I’d purchased remained nearly untouched in my Cabinet.
“Tomorrow… hmm… should I try combining the potion with this?”
I scratched my head and methodically devised a plan. Once the scheme was sufficiently refined, I lay down on my Bedroom with a sinister smile.
“Tomorrow is when I finally kill this bastard.”

* * *

The next day, when I arrived at work, I retrieved the “Information Department’s Exclusive Memory-Sharing Magical Artifact”—the very device Zeles had delivered to me personally before.
Inside the box Zeles had given me was a magical artifact with a strap that could be affixed to the forehead, paired with a projector capable of displaying the memories transmitted by the artifact.
Pongko watched me with anxious eyes from beside me.
“How exactly are you planning to use that? Khalid doesn’t seem like he’d willingly wear it.”
“Obviously, I’ll put it on him secretly. Do you really think Khalid would wear it voluntarily?”
“Hmm… so how are you planning to put it on him secretly?”
“The Pharmacy Department’s special sleeping draught!”
I withdrew a purple potion from my Cabinet with confident flair.
“What makes it different from an ordinary sleeping potion?”
“It makes you dream!”
“Dream?”
“Apparently it causes you to dream of your own desires made manifest. So I’m planning to use this memory-sharing artifact to observe Khalid’s dreams. If I understand what he desires, I can deduce his weaknesses in reverse. After all, desire always stems from deficiency.”
“Why can’t you just view his memories directly?”
“That bastard has even inscribed mental interference-blocking runes into his clothing. Without the dream state, it would be impossible to access his deeper memories.”
“He really is thorough. Well, do your best.”
Pongko chewed his carrot with skepticism, but I dragged my familiar along anyway. Then I knocked on Khalid’s office door and invited him to join me for tea time.
Khalid, who had been reviewing answer sheets I’d graded, grumbled at me as I poured his tea.
“You really did give out too many points.”
“As I mentioned, my standards and yours may differ considerably…”
“I know, I know, but the level I’m aiming for is still…”
“Enough of that—just drink your tea.”
Khalid drank the tea I’d poured without suspicion, then rubbed his eyes.
“Anyway, I’m going to take a nap, so finish reviewing those test papers while I’m asleep.”
“Yes, yes. Sleep well.”
Khalid stretched out sideways on the three-person Sofa in the Professor’s Office. Sleep claimed him almost instantly.
I waved my hand in front of Khalid’s eyes and confirmed he showed no reaction.
“Perfect.”
She carefully placed the memory-sharing magical apparatus on Khalid’s forehead.

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