There Is No Hidden Villain in This Novel Chapter 27

Let me talk about my current life for a moment to escape reality. It is not something to brag about, but I had no affinity for studying in my current life either. My school days were spent hanging out while maintaining a decent social life, and the only time I studied hard was at the very end of my senior year of high school.

I was lucky enough to get into Korea University with that, but even there, I only played and did not study. Even when the professor nagged me, saying, “You could do anything if you just put in the effort, so why don’t you?” I would slickly and smoothly slip away and go to sleep. Ah, the “sleep” I am talking about here is not for all ages. It is just a figure of speech.

If our eyes met while drinking, we would immediately kiss, fumble with belts, and enter a hotel. I did not care who the other person was. As long as they were my type.

It was a life that could get me beaten to death somewhere, but I had no intention of changing my pattern. Because if a problem arose, my hyungs would clean it up for me!

‘The chaebol cheat key is the best after all!’

That is right. The youngest son of a chaebol family made good use of his background. I did not say anything about simply getting beaten up, thinking it was more of a karmic retribution than a problem, but it is hard for me to handle a crazy bastard who comes at me with a broken bottle, saying he will kill me if he cannot have me, on my own, right?

At that time, I got on my knees and acted cute just to stop him from swinging the bottle somehow, but before anything more could happen, my hyungs and bodyguards arrived in a crowd…….

And just like that, the crazy bastard disappeared.

No, I am not kidding, he really disappeared somewhere. He was a university classmate, but they said no one knew what happened to him. My hyungs would not tell me either.

I was not particularly curious either, so I did not ask. Why should I care what happened to a crazy bastard like that?

Anyway, this is what I want to talk about.

‘Even though the chaebol cheat key is gone, couldn’t I use the prestigious family cheat key?’

So, do not get me wrong and listen.

“Ah, you want to take them all~? Well, I suppose cadet de Millang could do it!”

“What. You did not say anything, but was that what you were thinking? Hmph. Not a bad spirit.”

“Wonderful, oh, beautiful! Sir Cassis is a truly fantastic cadet!”

If the professor disappears, I do not have to study, right?

‘Right?’

……Of course, deleting the professor is not a fundamental solution to life……!

I know that too. Do you think I do not know that if I kill a professor, a new one will come? That is not why I am doing this.

‘When three professors are forcing me to take their three classes simultaneously, do you think I wouldn’t feel the urge to kill?’

I am not kidding, I really want to delete them all. Taoist magic? Shamanism? Are you kidding me? Me, who was just going to use blood magic and pretend to be a super-talented genius?

Why are you expanding my exam scope as you please?!

Ha, it seems I had forgotten because the #AcademyLife keyword in the original work shone like a false advertisement only in the beginning, and then war, suffering, and hardship rapidly rushed in.

The fact that Cassis de Millang received a lot of attention from the professors in the original work.

‘For better or for worse.’

Think about it. Cassis de Millang stored mana in his Dantian. He created a Dantian using the mana heart forging method. What this means is that Cassis de Millang transplanted his heart into his Dantian.

‘A real madman…….’

I am not talking about a physical, real heart. I am talking about the location of the mana heart. That does not mean it is something that should be done. Of course. The mana heart is a structure that actively utilizes the mana circuits near the heart. The mana circuits near the Dantian have a completely different composition from those near the heart. It is like attaching a device made with completely different equipment.

Literally, it can be compared to a situation where a brain has been transplanted into the chest, or a brain has been placed in the belly and is still fine……. Anyway, that kind of situation.

It means it is an act that should not allow one to live.

Despite that act, Cassis de Millang’s pulse is still beating. Usually, just attempting it would cause the body to swell up like a balloon and explode, but since his debut at the age of thirteen with a dungeon conquest that drew an explosive response, he is still alive.

The very fact that he is alive is a brilliant proof of his talent.

Is there even a single professor who would not have the desire to keep him by their side and observe him?

Or is there really no professor who wants to ride on the name value of the de Millang family?

‘No way!’

So, the sight of the professors in front of me wiggling their butts like beasts that have spotted their prey is not that strange. I know. I know…….

There was only one reason I became anxious.

‘In the original work…… I think Cassis de Millang was taking multiple courses.’

Of course, since the story progresses from Ryuseong’s point of view, it is hard to be sure, but it was definitely said that Cassis took more courses than Ryuseong.

Using that as an excuse, Cassis’s gang would mentally console themselves by saying Ryuseong got high scores because he took fewer courses. That is not it, Ryuseong won because he is a ridiculously strong, overpowered protagonist.

But that is not important.

What I mean is…….

‘In the original work, how many courses did Cassis de Millang take?’

Yes, this is the real problem, I am telling you.

‘Ah, I can manage the two-faced act somehow, but studying just isn’t in my constitution—!’

Huh? Did you forget about the great hotel room explosion operation? No way. It is true that to become stronger, I blew up a hotel, focused hard during theory classes, and memorized mana circuits, the eight extraordinary meridians, 99 types of magic circles, 108 types of formations, and even learned the proper grip.

I did that because I needed to become stronger to survive. But exams were a different matter from survival.

Even if Ryuseong is the unshakable number one, Araea is an academy where only geniuses gather in the first place. How many competent and talented geniuses are crawling around in there?

‘I’m a noob, I tell you.’

Can I, who has to learn from ‘Fire Ball’ again, smoothly achieve second place? For the sake of my smooth life, shouldn’t I at least reduce the number of courses I take?

These very worries were tormenting my pitiful heart.

But contrary to my tumultuous inner thoughts, on the outside, it would look like I was sweetly lowering my eyes and tilting my head. Because I had directed myself to exude a refined elegance, like the epitome of a noble aristocrat, in every single gesture.

Of course, my true feelings are nothing but profanity, but isn’t what is visible all that matters?

“Oh my, I understand that you all wish to focus on me, but please calm down. I do not wish to become a shameless person who steals learning opportunities from the cadets. I would not decline an invitation to tea time, but is this not the time for you to be ‘selling’ your subjects?”

When I smiled with narrowed eyes, their expressions each became subtle. The word ‘selling’ probably rubbed them the wrong way. But when you think about it, it is selling.

‘Because it’s a tradition in the Magic Department for the subject with the fewest enrolled students each year to be made fun of.’

To be precise, you could say they get chewed out by the senior professors. Since students usually take the same subjects in their second year as they did in their first.

In other words, the first-year professors are no different from salespeople. It means they are the unfortunate junior professors who have been tasked with handling the leftovers to promote their subjects with a “Please take our course.”

However, from the point that even they are immensely admired ‘named conquerors’ in the outside world, and from the point that a suffocating weight can be felt in their gazes fixed on me, we can guess ‘what kind’ of beings the practical training faculty of Araea Academy are.

“……Well, that’s not wrong~.”

“An arrogant young man, I don’t dislike that kind of thing.”

“Ah, to be a prodigy in speech as well! This is truly a blessing for the academy.”

The professors, who each left a grumbling remark, childishly pushed each other and bickered as they crossed the cadets’ seating area to the podium. And then, the momentous decision-making tool they took out to decide the order was.

“If you don’t play, you lose! Rock-paper-scissors!”

……it was.

“You didn’t play! You lose! This bastard’s a loser!”

“No! I just played a little late……!”

“Are you trying to pull a fast one?”

“You might lose your wrist, you know~?”

……At this point, the cadets were wondering what this was all about.

Because they were showing a very sloppy and foolish side for professors of a prestigious academy who were supposed to lead geniuses from all over the world. Furthermore, they did not even show the dignity of named conquerors.

“…….”

But I did not let my guard down.

Even at the moment when everyone else was looking on with disappointed eyes, I just kept the faint, chilling smile that was my trademark on the corners of my lips.

I ignored the fact that there were three, and one more, gazes watching me.

So, besides the professors, Ryuseong was also glancing at me, but I am just ignoring it. The reason is simple. The more I ignore you, the more anxious you will get.

‘How can you be so nonchalant when I’m so bothered?’

‘Are you saying it’s fine as long as you meet someone else?’

—Think whatever you want. I will never show a shaken appearance.

Go ahead and get your heart broken, Ryuseong.

‘So, what subject should I take?’

……My own heart is breaking enough without thinking about you! Fuuuuuuck!

*

“Ah! Dammit. I’m first again this year.”

Though she was unaware of it herself, the shamanism professor, Do Hyeon, who always threw paper and thus had a zero percent win rate in rock-paper-scissors, grumbled as she went up to the podium and began to rub her fingers with a bored expression.

And from that moment, something began to change.

Jingle jangle, the sound of bells came from somewhere, and even though the curtains were not drawn, the windows turned dark, and the lights flickered, chijijijik, flicker, flicker.

Is she trying to create a scary atmosphere? Some cadets even sneered.

‘As if we’d be scared by this.’

They did not say it out loud, but it was metaphorically revealed in their behavior. Do Hyeon did not dislike their greenhorn cockiness. Because it would all be shattered anyway.

“You young folks over there, listen.”

Hoo.

When she blew on her fingertip, a flame began to rise as if her fingerprint were a flint. At the same time, the lights went out, thud.

The only light in the darkened classroom was now the radiance rising from Do Hyeon’s fingertip.

“Shamanism and Taoist magic are very different subjects. But the very fact that they are grouped together under the name of ‘magic’ makes me very angry, you know? The folks who practice Taoist magic get all the good treatment, being called divine, immortals, or Taoist masters, but we shamans get to hear all sorts of nonsense. But listen carefully.”

Finally, Do Hyeon turned halfway and began to draw a picture on the rice paper attached to the blackboard with her flaming fingertip.

The fire strangely stayed only on the trajectory she drew. In other words, the flames were beginning to be fixed as a picture.

Even if its appearance was an ugly-ass stickman.

“One can pray to shamanism even with nothing! Shamanism is for those without roots, it is not something that can only be used if one has something innate. Shamanism is a plea!”

It was a very crude shape.

A few cadets inadvertently burst out laughing at the grand cry that did not match the sight of a stickman that could be believed to have been drawn by a kindergartener, hanging alone on the blackboard’s rice paper.

Normally, they would not have. They would have heard of Araea Academy’s notoriety and would know of the named conqueror, Do Hyeon. But now that Do Hyeon, Pungseonja, and A-ple had lightened the mood with their absurd banter, the cadets’ ‘mistakes’ were coming out.

And Do Hyeon did not rebuke them but scribbled two characters next to the rice paper. Yongwang (Dragon King). When it was revealed that her chicken-scratch drawing was a portrait of the Dragon King, the Lord of the Great Sea, almost everyone burst out laughing.

Since she was not scolding them, they began to think that this was okay.

Do Hyeon did not dislike that kind of complacency either. If a current conqueror had acted like that, she would have smashed their head in, but these were still just cadets.

“Shamanism is divided into sympathetic magic and contagious magic according to its principles. The principle of sympathetic magic is that like produces like, and the result is similar to the cause. This sympathetic magic, also called imitative magic, is exemplified by the rain-making ritual of drawing a portrait of the Dragon King to wish for rain… boring, isn’t it? You’ve all learned this, haven’t you? From textbooks, through theory. Right?”

It was at that moment, as Do Hyeon was also raising the corners of her lips and reciting the explanation amidst the children’s giggles.

“Aaaaaaaah!”

It happened literally out of nowhere.

One cadet suddenly shot up from his seat, rolled to the floor, and began to flail his arms and legs in all directions. The cadet who had been laughing the most actively was now convulsing hysterically.

“Aah! Kuaaaak! Help, help me, uh, uh uh uh….”

“Hey, get a grip! What, what’s going on…….”

The cadets nearby tried to help him up or shake him by the shoulders to bring him to his senses. But the professors who should have been helping them were smiling, and the class was continuing.

“The principle of contagious magic is a type of magic, also called infectious magic, based on the principle that things that have been in contact once continue to interact with each other across time and space even after the physical contact is broken. For example, believing that hair, fingernails, or toenails continue to affect a person even after they are separated from the person’s body.”

In contrast to the cadet rolling on the floor and screaming, Do Hyeon’s calm voice continued, clear and blue without a speck. When the radiant Do Hyeon showed the cadets the space between her fingers that had been on fire, there was a single thin strand of hair.

It was a dark brown strand of hair, the same color as the cadet who was screaming and yelling.

“Sometimes, it’s simply called a ‘curse’. Just like, right now.”

And so, Do Hyeon captured the hall with fear. All the cadets, except for three.

And.

“……Stop it! Even if you are a professor, this kind of act is, unforgivable!”

The person who said this was not Cassis de Millang.

‘Of course not. As if I’d act that nice?’