The Conjurer of the Academy

Chapter 6

“Phew.”

The two simplest ways to calm your mind: take a deep breath in and exhale just as deeply.

“Haa.”

I had finally arrived.

I stared blankly at the half-hanging class sign above my head.

『1-B』

First-year, Class B.

In the story, Han Yu-seong and Shin Seo-ha were in Class 1-A, while I was in the neighboring Class 1-B.

In other words, this meant that from the very composition of the class, I had no connection to the protagonists. To Han Yu-seong, Seol Ha-baek was practically invisible.

[Puhuhu, you look like a rabbit entering a tiger’s den.]

The fluffball snickered.

I can’t exactly turn this into a stew.

The reason for my hesitation wasn’t simply because there were no main characters in this class. Strictly speaking, it was because of Class B’s roster.

‘It’s not like I’m getting involved because I want to.’

I couldn’t change my class.

And I couldn’t just stand outside the door forever.

Click

Here I go, world.

I opened the door and took my first step in.

Surprisingly, no one paid me any attention. About 30 students were packed into the classroom.

And right in the center of the room, a crowd of students was gathered around one student, chattering away.

‘There he is.’

Cheon Tae-seong.

Han Yu-seong’s rival and a psycho who would go as far as to harm people. Unfortunately, he was in Class 1-B.

“That guy was such a freak. Right, Tae-seong?”

“Idiot, you think someone like Tae-seong would care about such scum?”

Surrounded by lackeys trying to entertain Cheon Tae-seong, he leaned on his hand, barely paying attention.

Even these clowns were all top students, recognized as aces since their middle school years.

Compared to the havoc these guys would wreak in the future, the gang Shin Seo-ha beat up earlier was child’s play. And here they were, wagging their tails trying to win Cheon Tae-seong’s favor.

“…”

But Cheon Tae-seong seemed displeased.

Understandably so, since at the entrance ceremony, some unknown country bumpkin had stolen his spotlight.

‘Please, let this drag out as long as possible.’

I quietly took a seat in an empty corner.

Seol Ha-baek would inevitably clash with that group. Or to be precise, become their prey. Han Yu-seong would then save him.

While Yomi’s Foxfire was quite useful, my stamina wasn’t enough to sustain it for long. So I hoped to avoid any confrontation with that group for as long as possible.

But I had forgotten.

Delinquents often mark their prey on the first day of school, when asserting dominance is most advantageous.

“Hey.”

A short boy with a buzz cut, part of Cheon Tae-seong’s gang, approached my desk and tapped on it.

“Hey, nice to meet you.”

A quick glance showed the rest of Tae-seong’s gang snickering while watching us.

I moved only my eyes to check the face of the approaching hobbit.

‘Kim In-seong.’

He’s the weakling of Cheon Tae-seong’s group, a stereotypical bully character who targets the weak while snuggling up to the strong.

Even so, he was recognized for his talent since middle school.

And this runt had picked the frailest-looking kid in class, Seol Ha-baek, as his prey.

“Nice to meet you.”

I casually greeted Kim In-seong and made eye contact with him.

Ignoring him right from the start would only give him more reason to pick a fight.

“Wow, I haven’t seen you before. You must be an external student?”

He said this as he perched on the edge of my desk, looking down at me with a domineering smirk that made me want to punch him.

“What’s your entrance rank, buddy?”

Entrance rank.

This question was to gauge if I was worth bullying.

All Babel exam candidates, including those moving up from the middle school division to the high school division, had to take entrance exams.

The final rank is determined by combining the scores from written tests, practical tests, and interviews.

As is typical in academy genre games, this entrance rank signified a student’s hierarchy. And Seol Ha-baek’s entrance rank was…

“299th.”

“299th?”

Out of 300 students, I ranked 299th.

At first, even I found it hard to believe. Barely scraping through like this. And what this meant was…

“Puhahaha, did you hear that? This guy is ranked 299th!”

In a high school survival-of-the-fittest environment, this made me the perfect target to dominate.

“This guy is a total idiot!”

Kim In-seong stomped his feet and laughed uproariously, wearing the expression of someone who just found the perfect toy. His gang joined in the laughter.

[Shall I incinerate this one too?]

Yomi grumbled, clearly unimpressed with him. But burning him wasn’t an option.

‘Time to make my choice.’

The time to make a choice came sooner than I expected.

The choices were simple.

Should I endure the bullying as in the original story, waiting for Han Yu-seong to save me, or should I take control and resolve this situation myself?

If this were Seol Ha-baek, he would just cower and say nothing.

But I refuse to become anyone’s toy.

“Actually,”

I lowered my voice and whispered into Kim In-seong’s ear.

“I can see things… things like ghosts.”

“Huh?”

I examined Kim In-seong up and down. Startled, he didn’t immediately react.

“Hm, I see.”

I abruptly stood up and looked at Kim In-seong with a serious expression.

“This is bad.”

“W-What is?”

The terrified Kim In-seong recoiled. I smirked and waved my finger around behind him.

“You’ve got a bad spirit attached to you. A nasty one. You’re fated to choke on your food and die soon.”

“What!”

Kim In-seong jumped up, shouting. Enraged, he glared at me as if he wanted to kill me.

“If you hit me, your ancestral spirits will be furious. You might even die suddenly on the toilet.”

“You bastard, you’re gonna die!”

Just as Kim In-seong was about to swing his fist,

Click

It was precisely 9 AM, right on time.

A man with a scruffy beard and wearing a tracksuit entered.

With lifeless eyes devoid of any enthusiasm, he looked around the room lazily.

“Quiet down and take your seats.”

With the teacher’s arrival, the scattered students grudgingly returned to their places. Kim In-seong did the same.

“I’ll deal with you later.”

“Next time, don’t forget the payment.”

Kim In-seong spat out some curses as he returned to his seat.

[Puhuhu, you do have a knack for messing with people.]

“No less than you, I suppose.”

You arrogant little fluffball.

I couldn’t afford to let myself be distracted by someone like him.

‘It’s better than becoming a toy.’

It was a given that Seol Ha-baek would be the prey of Cheon Tae-seong’s gang in the original story. If I was going to twist the scenario, I couldn’t just sit back and take it.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Choi Tae-min, in charge of the Special Tactics lecture.”

Is he really that pleased to meet us?

Despite it being the first day, he looked like he couldn’t be more bothered, which kind of sapped the motivation of anyone watching him.

‘So, Choi Tae-min is our teacher.’

To ensure efficient education, Babel assigns multiple teachers to special subjects.

The Special Tactics lecture focuses on combat techniques using mana. Although I had met most of the teachers, Choi Tae-min wasn’t a particularly memorable figure.

‘In the game, he was just an extra who passed by a few times as the homeroom teacher of a neighboring class.’

It really was an extra student paired with an extra teacher. The treatment difference between the main protagonist and neighboring classes was like night and day.

“I’ll be your homeroom teacher for Class 1-B for the next year.”

Choi Tae-min glanced over the students.

“Well, that’s that. Let’s get along.”

Scratching the back of his head, which looked like he hadn’t washed it, he wasn’t exactly exuding competence. But this cleared up one question for me.

‘I can see why Seol Ha-baek was left to suffer bullying.’

Of course, part of the problem was that Seol Ha-baek didn’t actively seek help, but Choi Tae-min didn’t seem like the type to proactively guide students either.

With his lackadaisical demeanor in every action, it was hard to expect him to be passionate about guiding students.

If the homeroom teacher of Class 1-B had no interest in his students, Seol Ha-baek being left to suffer made sense.

‘Damn it.’

By now, the neighboring class was probably enjoying an orientation with a beautiful female teacher. But here, it already felt like a funeral.

With the exception of the perpetually bored Cheon Tae-seong, all the students looked like they were attending a wake.

“Today, we’ll just have a simple orientation. After this, you can freely return to your assigned dorms or explore the campus further.”

In closing, Choi Tae-min seemed to recall something and slowly backed up to the podium.

“Almost forgot. There will be a freshmen welcome party in the main auditorium at 7 PM tonight. Attendance is mandatory, so don’t even think about skipping.”

SubQuest

Q: Participate in the welcome party and gather information.

※ Up to 3 people, rewards vary depending on whom you interact with.

As expected, this is the flow.

This event happens on the first day and allows you to gather information related to future episodes.

Click

As soon as Choi Tae-min left the classroom, the frozen students simultaneously began to move. Among them, a particularly furious buzz-cut headed my way.

“Fortune-teller bastard!”

Bang!

Kim In-seong slammed his desk and stood up. I knew he’d react as soon as Choi Tae-min left.

“See you later, In-seong.”

“You’re dead if I catch you!”

I was already at the back door of the classroom.

I exited the class and immediately started running towards the back garden. A glance showed Kim In-seong huffing and puffing, chasing after me.

[Puhuhu, look at that buzz-cut kid, eagerly chasing after you.]

Exactly.

A little provocation and he blindly follows. This is why you can’t deal with single-celled extras.

‘Thanks to him, things are going smoothly.’

I had been thinking.

Since I decided not to follow the original storyline, I needed to free myself from the persistent bullying.

But facing that entire gang at once would be difficult. So the solution was simple.

‘I have to take them down one by one so thoroughly that they wouldn’t dare to bully me again.’

Just after turning the corner towards the back garden,

“That fortune-teller bastard—”

The moment Kim In-seong turned the corner,

“Guh!”

I grabbed Kim In-seong by the neck and lifted him into the air.

As his vision quickly changed upon turning the corner, Kim In-seong’s feet flailed in the air as I held him by the neck.

“Kegh, keh…”

“I told you we’d meet later. How much do you like me to chase after me like this?”

Kim In-seong’s face twisted, either from my taunt or from the choking pressure on his throat.

Awakeners have superior physical abilities enhanced by mana, and Seol Ha-baek shouldn’t be able to use magic power. So, where did this strength come from?

[There’s not much spiritual energy left to squeeze out.]

It’s because, like mana, spiritual energy can also enhance the body.

The problem is Seol Ha-baek’s small capacity and the significant amount of spiritual power I’d already used this morning.

So I had to settle this in one decisive move.

“I’ll only say this once, so listen carefully.”

“Kuh-uh…”

Foam formed at the corners of Kim In-seong’s mouth. His eyes started to roll back, and tears welled up in the corners.

But this was nothing compared to the torment Kim In-seong inflicted on Seol Ha-baek in the original story.

Whoosh

Foxfire burned near Kim In-seong’s face. It’s said that humans sometimes hallucinate when faced with death. To Kim In-seong, the Foxfire might look like that kind of vision right now.

“If you loiter around again, I’ll really kill you next time.”

“Guh…”

Just before running out of spiritual energy, I threw Kim In-seong to the ground. Gasping for breath, he clutched at his throat, finally released from my grip.

There was only one thing to say to the suffering punk.

“Get lost.”

Staggering, Kim In-seong disappeared around the corner. In his current state, he couldn’t argue or fight back, so it was a reasonable choice.

[Are you sure it’s okay to let him go like this?]

“It’s fine. He’ll probably be too embarrassed to talk about this for a while. Moreover, I’m running low on spiritual energy.”

He wouldn’t want others to know he was almost strangled to death by a weakling ranked 299th in the entire school. He knows well enough that if he leaves me alone, I won’t spill the beans either.

‘At least I’ve dealt with one problem.’

As I watched Kim In-seong disappear, Yomi snorted.

[How boring. So, where do you plan to go now?]

The little fluffball wriggled on my shoulder.

After catching my breath, I wiped the sweat off my forehead and replied.

“Let’s take our time to look around.”

I still had some things to do, after all.

Main Quest No.1 Clear!

You’ve officially become a freshman at Babel! : +50 Skill Points

“And I need to settle some things.”